Rowan’s Pile of Games: Battle School and the Looming Context

While unpacking and cataloging games after my recent move, I rediscovered a slew of review copies from the depths of my many cardboard boxes. RPGs from designers I’d been eager to examine through a critical lens that fell through the cracks of my life as disasters both personal and political struck me down time and time again. Upon unearthing them, like an archaeologist finding treasures from a forgotten civilization, a pit of shame calcified in my gut. But, as a former comedian, I know there’s one surefire way to navigate shame: turn it into a joke and put it on display for everyone to see. And thus, this column was born: Rowan’s Pile of Shame Games. [Disclaimer: Neither I nor Rascal have an obligation to publish an article in exchange for receiving a review copy.] 

In the coming months, I’ll be diving into most of these games, giving them the attention and care I originally intended — if only slightly belated. For this inaugural installment, I wanted to begin with an RPG I received at Gen Con last year, Battle School by Andrew Beauman, Elliot Davis’ theory of “The Looming Context,” and whether an author stating that a game is critically examining a theme is the same as actually doing it.