When Gemma moves across the country, she’s thrilled to be accepted in a group to play her favorite TTRPG. The group is excited, too.
Then, in one session, one of the members takes it too far, becoming that guy. However, the game master silences Gemma when she stops the game, telling her not to ruin the fun for everyone.
Unbeknownst to Gemma, the group’s behavior spirals after this incident to a point where Gemma has no choice but to play their game, but Gemma is determined not to roll a natural one…
This is an Extreme Horror, consider this a warning for all TW. 18+.
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe! I’ve done it again…I’ve delved into some extreme horror even though I don’t generally like extreme horror. Why? Well because I went to the Indie Horror Chapter event last year, where the author had an excellent table, and all the book covers were so cool, and the author also looked so cool…and and and I mean, it’s rude not to buy a book, isn’t it? Yeah, that’s my excuse for buying one (three) books from this author. Manners. Nothing to do with losing control of my sensibilities and my “I’m only browsing today” rule.
Anyway, this nasty little novella tells the tale of Gemma, who is lonely in a new town and joins a local D&D group. She’s the only lady in the group, but that’s cool…until it isn’t. During one hideous game, the guys gang up on her and force her character through what appears to be an extremely sexual group fantasy. This is, at best, the dumbest-but-not-intentionally-horrible “joke” these guys have ever played, or at worst, it’s a sudden giant indicator that these are not safe men to be with. This is extreme horror, so you can imagine how this might go.
This story had its hooks in me immediately with this scenario because I was genuinely so scared for Gemma, and related to a lot of her internal monologue during this predicament. I was furious with the guys for making her so uncomfortable, knowingly, and pushing it so far. I was yelling at her to get the f outta there, but also sympathetic to that horrible fear that grips you when you’re afraid of escalating the situation, but you don’t know what might set things off. Or if they even will. Maybe you’re just tarring all guys with one brush, maybe you can’t take a joke, maybe you’re being oversensitive and taking it all too seriously. Maybe you’re actually a bitch if you don’t laugh it off and let them have their fun. Could she just get up and walk out, or would they stop her? Would visible anger from her prompt a similarly hostile response, putting her in physical danger? Is it best to placate them, to try to keep things calm, to try to keep the guys on your side so that if they are thinking of assaulting you, the reminder that you’re their cool friend will make them change their minds? Before the horror even gets going, this situation is just terrifying.
Now, I won’t go into major spoilers here, but everyone in this story seems like a violent maniac. Everyone. Things take terrible turns, but not the ones I expected.
There are a few things that happen that I would normally have a problem with (in terms of things feeling realistic). However, the whole theme of this book is that this is a turn-based RPG, a table-top venture turned bloody LARP, where Gemma is an elf (not literally, her D&D character is, and this is metaphor…I think!). Elves are underestimated because they’re often pretty and appear physically weak, but they’re sneaky because they’re full of magic. Maintaining a severe level of realism in every detail doesn’t get a strict look-in here because that’s not the point of this book. Despite the subject matter, this very much does reflect the fun of playing a game, and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
I winced a lot at the violence but had a great time doing it. I’d recommend this to fans of extreme horror that enjoy “good for her” type stories. If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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