General
The fundamental similarity of Notches to Dungeons & Dragons is: roll a d20 to check for success in an action.
Like D&D, success or failure in Notches is modified through bonuses and penalties to the d20 roll.
Here is where the differences begin. In Notches (drawing from Powered by the Apocalype rule-systems), success and failure are on a spectrum. Failure-rolls also matter, because they have Consequences, and because Characters gain experience (represented as a Notch) from each failure. That is a bit more complicated than D&D, and d20 systems in general.
There is one other way in which Notches is more complicated than d20 systems. Rules for encounters include different levels of conflict, from the emotional to the physically violent. There are also rules for de-escalation of conflict, and deflection of violence, to reduce or prevent harm. These rules all follow the same basic concept of a Skill check, but they do offer more rule-defined options for an encounter.
In every other respect, Notches is far simpler than d20 systems. There are no classes. No levels. No feats. No alignment. No battle-grids. Violence rarely lasts more than one Round. Characters can only do one action and one movement per round.
The rules of Notches revolve around Skills. Each player selects the Skills which their Character develops, and Players are encouraged to design unique skills. As each Character develops, it becomes increasingly unique. The principle here is ’emergent diversification’ based on a simple rule-set. Players could develop a Character according to an archetype, and therefore emulate one of the fixed classes in a d20 rule-set, but that is a choice rather than an imposed stereotype.
D&D 5e is a simplification in the right direction from the overkill of 3rd Edition. 5e is my favorite version of D&D. However, I have been mulling over the simplification of rules since 2008, so I stripped down the rule-system in the same direction as 5e, but much further.
Why no good/evil?
Good and Evil alignments reflect a Manichean belief in pure good and pure evil as objective, mutually-exclusive conditions. This is how hardened political and religious extremists see the world, and it is the ideology that makes it possible to see opponents as “monsters” who can be slaughtered with no moral misgivings. It is one of the key moral components for justifying genocide.
Rather than Good and Evil alignments, Notches focuses on character motivation for both Player Characters and NPCs. Thus, conflict and even combat still involve role-playing.
Why no Classes?
The Class system in d20 games was developed as a shortcut to develop distinct roles for characters. d20 Classes also assume a very inflexible medieval social structure. In Notches, Players need to figure out explicitly what role their Character will play within a team, and Players get to choose the mix of Skills and Spellcasting their Characters develop over time. In this case, less rules results in more possibilities.
In Notches, “class” is used in the 21st-century way to mean social inequality. In the Jehan setting, social inequality is as extreme (and harmful) as it is in the 21st-century USA.
Why no Levels?
There is a great deal of online discussion about how many role-playing games don’t work well for low-level characters, and completely break for high-level characters. D&D 5e was a major improvement because it “flattened” the differences between levels. But it still begs the question: should a 50-year-old, highly-experienced veteran have more Hit Points than a 25-year-old rookie? Maybe the veteran should be harder to hit. Maybe they know more options in a fight. Maybe they have better armor and even magical protections. But higher HP does not reflect anything realistic, even in a fantasy setting. Furthermore, should all skills and abilities increase together just because of the use of one set of skills to accomplish a quest?
Thus, Notches has no Levels. Everyone can only endure 4 degrees of physical injury. Those with better Skills, better teamwork, and better Armor are harder to injure.
Why no Feats?
Skills cover a wide array of possible actions in role-playing. Feats, on the other hand, were developed as part of a much more elaborate set of rules focusing only on combat. Games reveal their primary focus by the number of rules around specific behavior, and most d20 games prioritize violent conflict. In Notches, combat is handled like other Skill-checks; it has no privilege. Feats are removed to simplify the rules, but also to shift focus towards a much wider range of possible actions.
Why no Battle-Grids?
I am not categorically opposed to battle-mats and miniatures, but I don’t like how they distract from storytelling and tend towards reducing role-play to a board game.