Fans of The One Ring RPG are (we'll say) very "by the book", when it comes to the rules of the game. I personally find that there are too many rules in The One Ring RPG (and that's my personal opinion and I fully assume it).
I have to fully agree with you on both terms: I've been playing TOR since the first books of 1st edition (
Tales from Wilderland and on). First, I went to a long phase where I learned all the rules by heart, seeing that they all had a purpouse in oozing theme, and also that they were very interlinked and, therefore, couldn't be tinkered with without risking unbalancing the game.
But at some point, I got tired of some mechanics that turned into a protocol. I loved what they were trying to accomplish (like Councils and Journeys, of course), and even how the mechanics emphasised certain ways of solving those situations. But sticking to the mechanics narrowed too much the roleplaying and decissions and options for the players, in my opinion.
That's when I started looking for other simpler rulesets that I could adopt to the teachings of The One Ring, that I still find fascinating in their goals.
There and Back Again , the original by Ray Ottus, works really nice for short stories and casual games. But I wanted to run Middle-earth campaigns with it, and that's when I modified the basics according to my likings, and trying to balance some of the options for characters found in TOR, with the simplicity of rules.
Glad to share the vision with you.