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Published under CC-BY-NC-SA license, Ray Otus wrote a minimalistic ruleset to play in the world of 1937's "The Hobbit". That is, prior to it being revised and rewritten by Tolkien to fit his legendarium, mainly "The Lord of the Rings".
You can read more about it and download it for free in his itchio profile here: https://rayotus.itch.io/taba

I made my own version of the game, adding a layer of rules and concepts taken straight from The One Ring. While it (obviously) isn't that minimalistic anymore as Ray Otus' game, it's still a very simple RPG to play in Middle-earth that covers some of the most interesting features of TOR: Fatigue, Shadow, Hope, helping companions, and some more.

I asked the author for permission in freely distributing my own version of his game and he kindly gave it.
So, here's a link to an alternate "There and Back Again meets The One Ring" RPG

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nbwqsu ... share_link

Hope you like it or, at least, find it curious and interesting!
-Falenthal

I always liked the idea presented in "There and Back Again" by Ray Otus. I was considering using the rules from " Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures" to use with the new 5e set. I'll check your rules out when I can. ( It may be a bit)

Thanks for posting

I'll check your rules out when I can. ( It may be a bit)

Thanks a lot for the interest!

I've GMed a few adventures with them to long time TOR players and we've enjoyed them a lot. Not losing much from what makes TOR special and "tolkienesque", but also simplifying a lot the need to check rules or memorizing them.

Eager to read what you think.

I'll check your rules out when I can. ( It may be a bit)

Thanks a lot for the interest!

I've GMed a few adventures with them to long time TOR players and we've enjoyed them a lot. Not losing much from what makes TOR special and "tolkienesque", but also simplifying a lot the need to check rules or memorizing them.

Eager to read what you think.

I liked it. I think you did a great job.

Good job Falenthal, there's only one thing: I think you forgot to explain what R1 means for the wolf-rider goblin.
I guess it means Resolve, right?

Thanks to both for taking the time to read it through!

I used it to GM a long adventure, with very diverse situations (combat, social, journeys, investigations....) and it really gave me what I needed without any of the fuss and hard mechanics of other rpgs.

@artkid The R is an oversight from me! It should read E for Endurance, so that heroes need to kill both creature on separate attacks to finish it. I translated the document to english from my spanish version, where Endurance is called Resistencia.

Good work!

I have successfully run TOR 1e adventures with There & Back Again, as well as another hack of T&BA to TOR (skill names etc).

Thanks a lot, Byrax!

Do you happen to have a link to that other hack that mixes T&BA with TOR?

Recently, a colleague in one of the spanish forums for TOR did a nicer layout for our version. Just sharing it here out of curiosity:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UBdYnl ... sp=sharing

So I groaned inwardly when I read that you had expanded on Ray Otus's work. Then I read it carefully and with thoughts to how the original would play. I took out some TOR adventures and began reading them again with thoughts of your version. I have to say: Your version is Excellent!

And now that I see the layout improvement your friend did. I want that! In English!

Really great job!

So I groaned inwardly when I read that you had expanded on Ray Otus's work. Then I read it carefully and with thoughts to how the original would play. I took out some TOR adventures and began reading them again with thoughts of your version. I have to say: Your version is Excellent!

And now that I see the layout improvement your friend did. I want that! In English!

Really great job!

Thanks a lot for your words!
It really means something when someone who knows the original work doesn't feel I just blundered what was already good.

Well, having already the text translated to english (through DeepL, so I won't mind if someone would like to check for inconsistencies or strange phrasings) and, also, seeing that you hail from Duluth, the town of one of my favourite bands "Low" , I think we can manage to get an english version with the nice layout.

Will post it here as soon as we get it!