You don't need to buy into any single framework. All you need is a consistent mapping from the "real" URLs to something "friendlier" and
vice versa. (It is very much possible to do arbitrary mapping, but one doesn't normally want one's .htaccess file to be the largest and most complex part of the site, nor does one normally want to have to update .htaccess every time one adds a page/item.)
You would use mod_rewrite (the name of the Apache URL rewriting module; it also works with other compatible web servers). The Apache documentation is actually pretty good, both the
basic documentation and the
URL Rewriting Guide. There are other tutorials and so on all over the web, but you probably won't need them. It does involve regular expressions and captures, but it's not mind-numbingly complicated. You just need to be a little careful about the order you put things in and make sure that your rewite conditions are no broader than they ought to be (otherwise earlier rules in your .htaccess will do things you were expecting to be handled by later rules, and much hilarity will ensue).