Novels with extensive D&D-style ruin/dungeon exploration?

[Lilaxe]

The Deeds of Paxanarion by Elizabeth Moon has a ruin exploration or 2 in it IIRC. Plus its probably one of the best DnD feeling books ever!

Deed of Paksannarian Book 2 is basically T1 converted to a novel. The NPCs are there, moathouse with bandits, and evil cleric of Lloth in the dungeons below masterminding it. The series is good with lots of D&D like exploration, including an adventure to find a lost tomb, and Paks imprisonment underground.

 

[Meatboy]

I assume you mean The Deed of Paksenarrion.

yeah that's a good one too.

 

[Krensky]

The second book in Rick Cook's Wizardy series has a wizard (for sufficiently broad definitions of wizard) trapped and hunted in a ruined city.

The plot won't track well if you didn't read the first one, and the whole series is loading with programing jokes (trust me, they're not out of place) but you don't necessarily need to bet the jokes to enjoy the series.

They're both available in the Baen Free Library.

Edit: The first one has a wizard (a traditional one) and a warrior exploring a wizard's tomb and the first wizard and two warriors raiding a prison. Now that I think about it, the dwarves in the third one do stuff like some of my players, and there's a big assault on the villians' castle too.

 

[skinnydwarf]

"White Plume Mountain" by Paul Kidd is a novelization of a dungeon crawl adventure. I thought, given the source material, it was well written. It's lots of fun and usually laugh out loud funny. The main character is the Justicar, a ranger who carries a sentient hell-hound pelt, travels with a know-it-all henchman and a wisecracking, scantily clad fairy.

 

[Libramarian]

Short stories, not novels, but:

Conan -- The Scarlet Citadel, Red Nails

The Tale of Satampra Zeiros, The Seven Geases and The Colossus of Ylourgne by Clark Ashton Smith

 

[MortalPlague]

Came here to suggest Conan and Shannara. Not disappointed.

Unfortunately, I've got nothing to add. I will say that the original Sword of Shannara may have been light on dungeon crawls, but the second and third books had plenty.

 

[Corathon]

Many good stories mentioned already, but I'd add the "Elak of Atlantis" stories of Henry Kutner (at least one dungeon crawl in there), plus there was a novel in the "Dray Prescott" series by Alan Burt Akers that included a dungeon crawl.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Tombs of Atuan

It's a distant memory, but my recollection is that Ursula K. Leguin's Tomb's of Atuan (from the Earthsea Trilogy I believe) fits this bill.

Ken

 

[Redshirt]

The Second Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen has a pretty big dungeon crawl. The first three books are very good. The others... not so much.

 

[Stormonu]

2nd Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen features a dungeon as the primary setting. It's been a while (20+ years) since I read it, so my memory of the book is very dim - but I do remember it taking place mostly in a dungeon.