In your opinion which is the best dungeon core story.

Dungeon Pearl by Phrux is probably my all time favorite

The Elemental Dungeon Series is probably my favorite completed story. Book 1 is called Bone Dungeon.  Available on Kindle Unlimited

Dinosaur Dungeon Book 1: Wrath is the best one I've read recently, and book 2 is scheduled for release on amazon in 3 days. :D

If you want something funny with a Japanese style, I love the light novel Lazy Dungeon Master.  (Don't get it confused with The Lazy Dungeon Master D&D tips book.)

If you want to _write_ a dungeon core story, please specify that, I could recommend incomplete but interesting things.

The best dungeon core story in my opinion is:

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/10519/the-bound-dungeon - officially hiatus, but got to a point that could be a suitable open ending of a book.

The best officially completed dungeon story in my opinion is:

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37231/a-lonely-dungeon - As it seems to be intended mostly as origin story, the world lore gets a bit more focus than the dungeon lore. Still enough for second place.

My favorite might actually be https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40231/dungeon-42/ https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26010/dungeon-42--old, but that is more in the engaging than the good category. The original especially has the surprising effect of hardly being readable without waiting a week between chapters and the rewritten variant might not be much better.

Honorable mentions

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/27261/thieves-dungeon
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/17716/chronicles-of-a-dungeon-core
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/7318/cultivating-dungeon
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/20177/the-misplaced-dungeon

Some classics (back then top RR quality was quite a lower bar than it is now):

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/2619/mystery-of-the-dungeon

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/3289/rise-of-the-dungeon

Also worth looking at to see the possibilities of dungeon core stories:

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/3620/9001-a-dungeon-ship-odyssey - nice play with the dungeon mechanics. Though not very viable.and thus abandoned quite early.

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/30940/real-time-dungeon - Some very different kind of mechanics. Hiatus quite early in the story.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26091/dungeon-ecology - Not a dungeon in the classic sense. Not really enough content for a story, which might explain the slow pace...
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/16679/the-dungeon-calls-for-a-sage hiatus - nice initial setting, but gets nowhere
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21045/the-abyssal-dungeon - If you love detailed designs of dungeon floors, this might be interesting. Otherwise it gets very boring after a few chapters.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28746/mine-from-the-abyss - hiatus. For those that like things a bit more ... bizarre tastes.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31096/dungeon-pearl abandoned - especially the almost catastrophic experiments is something other stories miss.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25082/blue-core - NSFW, ongoing - at least officially a dungeon story though the dungeon aspect is little more than background

Probably the divine dungeon series however it does drop the ball in the last few books.

On RR my favourite might be https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25361/dungeon-engineer [hiatus]

+1 for dungeon Pearl

Bluelightning42 Wrote: Probably the divine dungeon series however it does drop the ball in the last few books.

On RR my favourite might be https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25361/dungeon-engineer [hiatus]

+1 for dungeon Pearl

Your https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/43271/dungeon-core-chat-room is also worth a strong mention!! 

Not sure about 'the best' but I recently started reading 'Dungeon Core Academy'  (7 books available if I'm not mistaken), which i quite enjoy.
Personally, I absolutely hate that 90% of the stories turn into some romance between the core and it's obligatory helper. Some very promising stories have been ruined for me by this.
So just the absence of that trope is already a plus point in my book.

Tinim Wrote: Not sure about 'the best' but I recently started reading 'Dungeon Core Academy'  (7 books available if I'm not mistaken), which i quite enjoy.
Personally, I absolutely hate that 90% of the stories turn into some romance between the core and it's obligatory helper. Some very promising stories have been ruined for me by this.
So just the absence of that trope is already a plus point in my book.

Dungeon fairies, for me personally, are the worst. Even if they don't become sex toys they are still 95% literaly exposition fairies.

TenThousandSuns Wrote:

Tinim Wrote: Not sure about 'the best' but I recently started reading 'Dungeon Core Academy'  (7 books available if I'm not mistaken), which i quite enjoy.
Personally, I absolutely hate that 90% of the stories turn into some romance between the core and it's obligatory helper. Some very promising stories have been ruined for me by this.
So just the absence of that trope is already a plus point in my book.

Dungeon fairies, for me personally, are the worst. Even if they don't become sex toys they are still 95% literaly exposition fairies.

I normally dislike dungeon fairies but Viridescent Core does a cool thing with them (as well as with the concept of an adventurers' guild).  Serious spoiler though, so I won't go into detail.

Unrelatedly, I'm amazed no one has recced No Epic Loot, Only Puns yet.  Gets my vote for best world outside the dungeon, especially the characters.  The dungeon is cute and funny, but the S-ranked retirees of the town are the best. :D

sunandshadow Wrote: I normally dislike dungeon fairies but Viridescent Core does a cool thing with them (as well as with the concept of an adventurers' guild).  Serious spoiler though, so I won't go into detail.

Unrelatedly, I'm amazed no one has recced No Epic Loot, Only Puns yet.  Gets my vote for best world outside the dungeon, especially the characters.  The dungeon is cute and funny, but the S-ranked retirees of the town are the best. :D

Will check them out in time, thanks!

Mine!!! Duhh

whoever Wrote: The best dungeon core story in my opinion is:

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/10519/the-bound-dungeon - officially hiatus, but got to a point that could be a suitable open ending of a book.

The best officially completed dungeon story in my opinion is:

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37231/a-lonely-dungeon - As it seems to be intended mostly as origin story, the world lore gets a bit more focus than the dungeon lore. Still enough for second place.

My favorite might actually be https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40231/dungeon-42/ https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26010/dungeon-42--old, but that is more in the engaging than the good category. The original especially has the surprising effect of hardly being readable without waiting a week between chapters and the rewritten variant might not be much better.

Honorable mentions

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/27261/thieves-dungeon
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/17716/chronicles-of-a-dungeon-core
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/7318/cultivating-dungeon
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/20177/the-misplaced-dungeon

Some classics (back then top RR quality was quite a lower bar than it is now):

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/2619/mystery-of-the-dungeon

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/3289/rise-of-the-dungeon

Also worth looking at to see the possibilities of dungeon core stories:

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/3620/9001-a-dungeon-ship-odyssey - nice play with the dungeon mechanics. Though not very viable.and thus abandoned quite early.

• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/30940/real-time-dungeon - Some very different kind of mechanics. Hiatus quite early in the story.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26091/dungeon-ecology - Not a dungeon in the classic sense. Not really enough content for a story, which might explain the slow pace...
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/16679/the-dungeon-calls-for-a-sage hiatus - nice initial setting, but gets nowhere
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21045/the-abyssal-dungeon - If you love detailed designs of dungeon floors, this might be interesting. Otherwise it gets very boring after a few chapters.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28746/mine-from-the-abyss - hiatus. For those that like things a bit more ... bizarre tastes.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31096/dungeon-pearl abandoned - especially the almost catastrophic experiments is something other stories miss.
• https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25082/blue-core - NSFW, ongoing - at least officially a dungeon story though the dungeon aspect is little more than background

Wow this is one hell of a comprehensive list. Very nice job1