As the Tanares RPG kickstarter campaign launch date is approaching, more information about the solo play mode of the Tanares RPG is starting to unveil. I am extremely intrigued by the Tanares RPG to the point I am starting to dream about the game as if this could be the ultimate adventure board game that I had always been looking for. Since Tanares RPG and Arena the Contest are both from the same company taking in the same world setting, I am certain there are players out there like myself who started out with Arena and seeing potential of Tanares RPG as a grown up/ultimate version of the tabletop board game. So I have decided to make a direct comparison between the two.
In this first of the series, let’s take a deep dive in the “Hero/Character” aspect of the game.
Disclaimer: Tanares Adventure expansion for Arena: the Contest will have fundamental core design expansion for epic campaign mode so I am trying to include known information about it when applicable, but the game itself has not yet been released and some details may change.
Character/Hero
Character or hero in the adventure board game is often seen as reflection of a player. Whether it is yourself in the world of the game or you are directly controlling the character. It is the main portal of you and the game.
Arena: the Contest 
Tanares RPG
Dragori Games officially calls Arena: the Contest as a turn-based tactical miniature combat board game. As the name says, the game is combat centric game. The game’s epic campaign mode have interesting story with puzzle elements, branching path with multiple ending; however, the game does not have any mechanics that uses hero’s information outside of the combat part. Therefore, the heroe’s statistics are limited to those that matters during the combat.
In contrast, 5th edition rule based Tanares RPG has many statistics that are outside of combat part, referred to as exploration part in 5E basic rule guide. Additionally, character development is one of the core feature of 5th edition game; therefore, the additional information like characters race, class and level are very important part; therefore, they have also depicted these information on the character sheet.
Combat Role/Class
Variance makes games more exciting for all (okay, most) players
Making Magic Variance, Part 2 by Mark Rosewater
As the Magic the Gathering lead designer, Mark Rosewater said, “variance makes games more exciting.” Arena uses combat roles as a core game design to provide play style variance. Healer have healing capabilities while Brute have no healing power of its own but able to deal higher amount of damages.
Since Tanares RPG uses 5E, there is no reason why we cannot use any of the classes defined in 5E rule but specific to Tanares RPG, Dragori Games created 8 original classes.
Four unique, innovative classes in Tanares RPG include Dragonblade, Madwalker, Elementalist, and Redeemer. These are really exciting classes and sample PDF has examples of how uniquely Dragonblade and Madwalker classes play. From strategy card gamer’s perspective, Dragonblade, for instance, have built in “combo/synergy” mechanics, which I can easily see games like Magic the Gathering can adopt. These will be discussed later in the series in more detail.
Although I want to try out all four of these innovative classes eventually in the Tanares RPG, 5E rule is complex for beginners in every aspects. Anything that can ease in new to 5E players should be seen with real admiration so that we can start enjoying the game rather than spending days to just learn the rule.
For this reason, as a board gamer without prior 5E experience, we should applaud the Dragori games for their creation of the other four “simple classes”.
I would certainly be using one of these four simple class on my first game.
Race
Arena: the Contest and Tanares RPG are both taking in the same world setting, Tanares. Therefore, various races living in the world are common to both setting.
For example, one of the healer class hero in Arena, Thalis is a Druid while another hero Ascaran from Bruiser class is an Angel.
Although four original races introduced in Tanares RPG were not seen in Arena: the Contest, I am certain they will make their appearance in Tanares Adventures expansion.
However, the impact of the race in the game play is drastically different between Arena: the Contest and the Tanares RPG.
In the Arena, races do not have direct impact on the gameplay to the player. On the contrary, race of your character determines statistics and also traits of the character in Tanares RPG.
Character Creation
One of the main attraction of Tabletop RPG is the game’s immersive experience to the players. Being able to create your own character will certainly help you to immerse yourself in the game. The official 5E basic rule guide actually devotes one of four main section in the book to “creating a character.”
There are specific rules/guides when creating an own character. Selection of a race and a class determines the primary statistics of the character but background story of the character could also affect them in certain extent.
There is no custom character creation in the Arena: the Contest. All heroes are pre-made.
Level up
Sense of character growth is important part of campaign game. This is the level up system.
In Arena the contest, you gain experience points (XP) upon defeating a campaign quest. These XP points act as in-game currency equivalent. One of the card you can purchase is level up card to boost your hero’s stat.
You can also purchase attack card of the same combat role.
Therefore, Arena campaign mode allow you to customize hero by combination of adding more attack cards and/or changing statistics of the hero.
However, one may feel this is a bit different than classic level up system where you typically unlock a whole new power by leveling up.
In Tanares Adventures expansion, this is indeed one of major design overhaul.
You will have skill tree for given combat role and you can have a subclass. Also, in Tanares Adventures, you will gain higher level attack card for the combat role rather than taking from the other hero’s in the same class, which are relative same power-level in Arena the contest.
With Tanares RPG, you will undoubtedly see an excitement each time you level up. For example, Dragonblade will gain different features and stat bonus as the character levels up. In case of Dragonblade, there is another layer of level, called Draconic Power level. Draconic Power levels up every 3 levels and each draconic power level will unlock list of new super powers. All the list above are not even including the basic stat increase.
Equipment/Item
Equipment is one of major way to customize your character.
In Arena, you can equip one artifact per hero. These provide passive bonus to the hero. In general, you bring these into the combat from the beginning of the session.
In campaign mode, killed enemy will drop a flask. This is one shot use item can only be used during the combat session.
With Tanares adventures expansion, these system will be redesigned. With Tanares adventures expansion, heroes will be able to equip weapons and armor with passive bonuses with over 100 items to acquire from. In addition, each hero will be able to carry a single-use potion (ref).
In contrast, character equipments in the Tanares RPG have various slots for individual gears with each types of equipment having their own effect.
Armor 
Weapon
One thing we do not know at the time of this writing is whether these equipments and items will come in form of card. In Tabletop RPG, owned items are depicted by filling the character sheet. As a board gamer, I think most of us would appreciate card format, which provides the feel of actually owning the equipment and item.
Conclusion
This is a common theme for the rest of the series. 5E rule always have more option and depth than any other tabletop adventure board game, not just limiting to Arena: the Contest or Tanares Adventure. This is a huge attraction to me at the moment. However, this does not mean Tanares RPG is superior to Arena: the Contest/Tanares Adventure. Audience or play setting may be different.
At the time of this writing, I think most of heroes/character element of Tanares RPG can be seen as a lot more detailed version of Arena: the Contest or any other tabletop adventure board game.
However, one thing we do not know at the time of this writing is if equipment and item will have card representation as in de fact standard in adventure board game. In typical RPG, these will be reflected by writing into the character sheet. The card format provides the feel of actually owning the equipment and item along with providing nice visual aid on the table. So I really hope Dragori Games will support this with Tanares RPG.