It's a bit more work, but it will preserve your walls and give you unlimited flexibility in hanging and moving pictures around the room.
Run picture rail molding, or picture molding, around the room. Some run it just below the crown, some run it just below the top of the window casing so it buts into the sides of the window trim.
You then hang the pictures off the moldiing using hooks and wire.
Another option.
For drilling through plaster...sometimes the flute on the bit woll catch and lift the plaster. Yoou can help miinimize this by placing a small piece of wood over the plaster, then drilling through the wood and into the plaster.