Novels about Megadungeon Exploration

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

Are there any good novels about a person or group exploring a megadungeon? Or, just about dungeon exporation?

I'm primarily interested in novels about the subject.

Thanks.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Kind of a hard one...I know there are some just can't think of them. Leaning more to the direct game books from Wizards.

 

[amerigoV]

Wizard's did a series of books on the classic modules. Keep on the Boarderlands was one of them. I did not get past the first chapter, so I do not know how much of the story took place in the Caves of Chaos (maybe not a mega dungeon, but a good size one).

 

[Shades of Green]

It isn't fantasy per se, but Dmitry Glukhovsky's Metro 2033 takes place almost exclusively in the Moscow metro system after a nuclear holocaust, and it does feel like a megadungeon - cramped underground passages and stations controlled by rival factions (or monsters), secret doors, hidden passages and so on.

 

[Aurumvorax]

Stretching the term "megadungeon," the classic Journey to the Center of the Earth may fit the bill. I use Dante's Divine Comedy as the basis for planar travel, particularly the players walking through hostile terrain while being accosted by trickster outsiders. I prefer my outsiders, particularly devils and lawful creatures, to be sly and deceiving not outright attack-on-sight hostile.

 

[Nagol]

There's the Dungeon series that uses Philip Jose Farmer's name.

Dungeon series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lot of the Sword and Planet genre had some dungeon exploration. For John Carter of Mars, for example, Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars had dungeons though all but the interesting bits are skipped over.

 

[ACpilot]

House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski.... hehehe...

 

[Corathon]

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft deals with the exploration of a partly subterranean city in Antarctica.

Other than that, I can't think of a whole novel devoted to dungeon exploration, but there are parts of a couple of novels which are:

The passage through Moria in The Lord of the Rings is a dungeon expedtion, complete with an adventuring party.

One of the "Dray Prescott" novels (A fortune for Kregen, I think) deals with treasure hunters entering the monster-haunted labyrinth of the Motyr Lords - very D&D-like.

Some short stories also deal with the subject, such as HPL's "The Nameless City" and "The Shadow Out of Time".

Somewhat related:Basil Copper's novel The Great White Space deals with an expedition into what I'd call the Underdark rather than a dungeon per se. I'd say the same of Journey to the Center of the Earth.

 

[Huw]

Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner features an extensive dungeon crawl. Not much fighting, 'cause it's a children's book, but very evocative of a large underground environment.

 

[Redshirt]

The Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen has a pretty large dungeon in it. It may not be Mega but its pretty big.