For years I've used paper/cardstock counters for my various games. Initially I did this with V&V, but it was easy to do it with my other games using a 1" die and old CCG cards, too.
Here's a picture as an example of one of my V&V games:
And this next one has some familiar characters in it:
And finally, here's an example from my Star Wars game:
One thing I've actually appreciated about TOR is that it hasn't taken as much prep work. We've sometimes used minis with the various stance/travel role sheets, but that's about it. Don't get me wrong. I (obviously) love to have that visual element, but it's nice to not have to worry about it, too.