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"There and Back Again" is a minimalistic RPG by Ray Ottus.
After some time using it, I tweaked it deeply to my own liking, converting the basic dice mechanics to a Year Zero system (sort of), and adding a thick layer of The One Ring rules and concepts, but simplified as much as possible.

Even though it's a simple ruleset, I've been using it for a small campaign and the development of heroes is working nicely.
Take a look if you'd like to have TOR in a nutshell, and please forgive my English, as the document is a translation from my native language.

Hope you like it!

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

thanks, I'm gonna read this.
This look great.

Arthur.

thanks, I'm gonna read this.
This look great.

Arthur.

Thanks a lot!

Please, let me know whatever you think of it, either doubts regarding rules, concepts that are unclear or things you miss on a readthrough.

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).

That's why seeing that you're proposing summary rules for The One Ring RPG, I'm very open to the idea.

Arthur.

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.

I love The One Ring (don't get me wrong) ... otherwise I wouldn't play ... some of the rules are fantastic ... the character stats are perfect and simple ... I'm a bit like you, I don't like the rules about protocol "this has to go strictly there" (and they are of no interest to me). I prefer unrestricted roleplay. WEARY rules are important though. Some are important and interesting.

I'm going to look into THERE AND BACK AGAIN this summer (I don't know when) and I'll give you some feedback.

Arthur.

WEARY rules are important though. Some are important and interesting.

Fully agreed.

To me, the greatest achievements of TOR is how it handles equipment/weariness, Shadow and Hope, the "powers" of the different races as Virtues, and the 1st edition usefulness of Traits (not so much in 2e, I have to admit). All of this I kept, but simplified or even got rid of the rest.

Thanks for having the intention of reading the game. Simply remember that the core rules are 4 pages long, and the other 3 are options if you want to add Virtues and a loose procedure to handle Journeys. You can read it all in one sit, I'm sure