Notches: the Rules

Notches is a table-top roleplaying game with simple rules. In this rule-set, game concepts are capitalized for clarity.

I. General Gameplay

Players run Characters through adventures, in a setting described by the Game Host.

When Characters take Actions that involve risks or uncertainty, Players roll a d20, d12, & d6 simultaneously. The d20 represents the possibility of success, partial success, or failure. The d12 indicates particular characteristics of the action. The d6 represents the intensity or duration of an effect.

Only Players roll the dice. Virtually all rolls are Skill checks, including Combat and Spellcasting rolls. Players add their Skill & Trait bonuses to the d20 roll, and subtract any Situation Modifier (SM) declared by the Game Host.

IA. Success-Failure Spectrum of a Notches d20 roll

A natural 20 (“nat-20”) is an outstanding success, regardless of Bonuses or Difficulty Modifiers. With extra consequences of awesomeness.
16 or higher (including roll and Bonuses) is a clear success. No Complications.
11 to 15 is a mixed success. The action succeeds, but there are Complications.
A 2 through 10 is a failure. Failure includes fun Complications. Character earns 1 Notch in the attempted Skill.
A natural 1 is a comically disastrous failure, regardless of Bonuses. Character earns a Notch, and the Player must help explain the disastrousness of the failure.

The d12 roll indicates the character of a Skill check outcome. The 12 possibilities are listed on the Table of Twelve. It is not absolutely determinative, but the Game Host uses the d12 roll to help describe Consequences of a roll. The d6 roll indicates the intensity of an outcome, such as duration of an inflicted Condition or other random numbers.

IB. Notches as Skill-Building

The game is called Notches because each time a character fails a d20 Action roll, they get a Notch of experience in the Skill they tried to use. Each Notch you earn adds a +1 Skill Bonus in that Skill.

IC. What constitutes a Skill?

Use these examples themselves, and as models for any Skill you propose to your Game Host:

  • Ropes: proficient in rope repair, knots, restraining people & cargo.
  • Climber: steep & slippery terrain, walls, trees.
  • Combat Medic: stop a character from bleeding out.
  • Stealthy: proficient in quiet movement and concealment.
  • Locks & traps: identify, disarm, or arm mechanisms.
  • Brewing: make specific beverages. Beer, whisky, specific poison & antidote, truth serum & antidote
  • Wilderness: overland navigation, foraging, improv shelter.
  • Blade Combat: proficient in slashing and stabbing. Other combat Skills: Fist & Feet, Improvised Weapon, Blunts, Ranged, Grapple & Tackle, Deflect Blow.
  • Flame-thrower: able to prepare and throw incendiary liquids. Other-throwers: acid, poison, sleep, smoke, nausea, hilarity, bliss, paralysis, blinding flash, or deafening boom.
  • Various crafting (fabricate & repair) Skills: Metal (smithing), textiles & leather, wood, stone, or jewelry.
  • Various performance Skills: Negotiation, Deception, Intimidation, Inspiration, Entertainment, or Distraction.
  • De-confliction Skills: Deflect Verbal Attack, Defuse Anger, Defuse Fear, Comic Levity…

ID. Choosing Skills

Since Characters begin with only 3 Skills, Players should use Session Zero to decide which starter-skills will be most useful for the upcoming campaign. Maybe one Performance and one Combat Skill and one other utility skill: Medic, Crafting, or Stealth, or Locks & Traps.

IE. Getting more Skills: High-Stakes Help

Characters start with three Skills, which you choose during Session Zero. Each time the Character helps their party succeed in a High-Stakes situation, they can begin developing an additional Skill.

IF. Situation Modifiers: Complications, Stakes, and rising Challenge

Rather than roll dice, Game Hosts describe the consequences of actions in three ways:

  1. Potential Complications: any Player roll of 15 or lower has Complications. What might they be?
  2. Stakes: the Host may declare a high-stakes situation. Confrontations and Combat are usually high-stakes. Helping your Allies succeed a High-Stakes challenge earns you another Skill.
  3. Difficulty: the Game Host may declare a Challenge Modifier, which the Player needs to subtract from their d20 roll. Fighting a dragon is a major Challenge. Characters would need very high Bonuses in relevant Skills to survive that conflict.

IG. Non-Skill Actions

Four common d20 Actions are not associated with Skills. You cannot acquire Notches in these:

Endurance: d20 + STR
Acrobatics: d20 + DEX
Insight: d20 + INT
Perception: d20 + CHA (Charisma primarily means ‘presence’ in Notches, and thus the probability of noticing something unexpected)

Investigation is also a common check, but you can choose Investigate as a Skill and improve it.

II. The Purple Crayon rule in Notches

In the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, Harold uses the Purple Crayon to draw his reality. In Notches, Players must frame the creative power of the Purple Crayon as a leading question to the Game Host:

“…but the City Guard hears our cries and comes and saves us in the nick of time, right?”

The Game Host must respond, and abide by the following three principles:

  1. The proposal should not break the tension nor the fun of the game-play.
  2. The proposal needs to contribute to the imagining of this world.
  3. If possible, the proposal should contribute to a Moment of Awesomeness (see below).

IIA. Moments of Awesomeness

In Notches, the Host can award Luck Points for Moments of Awesomeness. Luck Points can be spent at will to do a second d20 roll and take the highest. Players may nominate other Players for a MoA Luck Point, and override the Host with a unanimous vote.

III. The Flashback Mechanic from Blades in the Dark

Did you bring the lockpicks with you? In many TTRPGs, questions like this lead to long discussions of how to prepare for a challenging situation. In Notches, we embrace John Harper’s innovation of the Flashback: during the encounter, Players may take a moment to explain why they brought a particular bit of necessary gear. 

Before an encounter, Players only need to specify whether they ‘go in Light or Heavy’, meaning that they set out either with regular clothing and a light bag, or that they set out carrying their full gear. This has roleplaying consequences: the Town Guard might not look at the party twice if they are going Light, but going in Heavy is likely to provoke attention, questions, and challenges.

Here ends the General Gameplay Rules of Notches. More specific rules are on separate pages, linked below.

IV. The rest: Character Creation, Conflict, Spellcasting & Alchemy, Equipment

Character creation in Notches is relatively simple, reflecting the simpler rule-set.

Notches has discrete rules for various levels of conflict, from verbal sparring to de-escalation to violent combat. Note that in any civil setting, Town Guard will intervene in a violent conflict, so there are realistic disincentives for escalating.

In Notches, there are many Alchemy Skills that would be considered spellcasting in other TTRPGs, such as potions and casting a fireball at a foe. Alchemy and Spellcasting are described together on a separate page.

Although the Notches rule-set can be used in many different settings, it does assume pronounced social inequality. This is reflected both in Character creation and in the Economics and Equipment page.

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