In the afterlife, your soul is used by another world. You are sent down to this realm, absent your memories, and placed within a rock. Magic infuses you and you gain a limited awareness of your surroundings. A ball of energy introduces itself to you and teaches you to harness your magic, to make a room and grow into a fearsome training ground for Adventurers, magically infused beings seeking to grow. You have to grow quickly, or an opportunistic Adventurer will destroy you before you have a chance to reach your potential, locking you into a Red Queen’s Race with the denizens of the world.
Such is the life of a Dungeon Core, one of the many subgenre of Progression Fantasy. It finds its roots from video games, specifically Dungeon Keeper as the origin of the genre, but expanded upon in other titles such as Dungeons or War for the Overworld. Unlike many other fantasy genres, which focus on people, Dungeon Core focuses on a nonperson (which isn’t to say it lacks sapience or sentience, but it’s not a person in anything approaching the typical sense of the word). The Dungeon Core is alive in some senses, but since it can’t (usually) reproduce, it’s not as obviously alive as other things are. They are inherently magical, the providing the incentive to destroy them (as they can presumably be used as ingredients for magical things). Anyway, let’s back this up and start defining things
Dungeon Core (A quick dive)
Dungeon Core is defined by Dakota Krout as “[Dungeon Core] are novels where at least one of the main characters is a sentient dungeon. These are usually progression fantasy in the style of cultivation, and revolve around characters that start weak and grow strong through personal achievements and proper mindset, focusing on characters increasing in power and skill over time.” The critical part there is that one of the characters is a sentient Dungeon (the rest being common to progression fantasy). As Krout states, growth is often through either Cultivation or (as he doesn’t state) a more RPG like system. As I pointed out in my litrpg deep dive a while back, Dungeon Core is sometimes a subgenre or format of litrpg. I don’t want to put these in a hierarchical sense though. These genres are not genres in the sense of Romance or Mystery, but more like games where the genre defines features more than plot. (I promise to elaborate on this later, but just understand that this distinction is important).
All of this is to say that while all Dungeon Core novels have progression as a core element, the mechanisms of this vary from book to book and author to author. Divine Dungeon (by Dakota Krout) shares very little in mechanics with Derelict (by Dean Henegar) which in turn shares little with Fairy Dungeon (by Jonathan “Dungeon Core” Brooks), but all of them are very much Dungeon Core books. A significant amount of the genre is about the growth, layout, and tactics of dungeon design. It tugs at the Dungeon Master heartstrings within every DM when they set up the adventure for their friends. And, much like those DMs, the second most important characters of the genre are the Adventurers.
One of the challenges of writing about a sentient dungeon is that you have a very sedentary, even stationary perspective from which the story is told. In order to tell a grander story, side characters (or even secondary main characters) from the Adventurers are used, to put the Dungeon into a context of a larger world. Frequently (but not always) a particular Adventurer forms a relationship with the Dungeon (in exchange for power, boons, something), which allows the story near the Dungeon and in the greater world to reflect back upon the Dungeon. Other times, the Dungeon will use Mobs (Dungeon created monsters/minions) to reach outside the dungeon and explore and interact with the greater world.
This is important because, with rare exceptions, Dungeons do not exist in a vacuum, either physically or metaphorically (although this is, again, not always true, with Derelict and Station Core (by Jonathan Brooks) being examples of each respectively (These are both scifi dungeon core, which is a bit non-central to the genre, but much more common than in litrpg or progression fantasy more generally)) Therefore, it is important for the Dungeon to understand where they fit into the world and its ecosystem for its continued survival, as many worlds have policies of exterminating dungeons that become “unfair”. It should be noted here that the notion of “fairness” is a pretty common theme in the genre: Difficulty should increase from relatively easy at the entrance to as difficult as the dungeon can manage near its core, traps should always have a way to bypass or overcome them, puzzles must have a solution that a suitably perceptive or witty person can solve. No “Rocks fall, everybody dies” is allowed, on pain of extermination. Remember: Dungeons don’t exist in a vacuum, there is always a bigger fish.
This is to say: there exist adventurers or other Powers That Be which will stomp any dungeon caught being unfair into dust. Because Dungeon and Adventurer exist in something of a symbiotic relationship, any short term gains from killing adventurers unfairly is unlikely to make up the gap between the Dungeon and the most powerful Adventurers in the land. Anyway, our Dungeon would never do that, because being a dungeon is just too much fun.
In case you didn’t figure it out: Dungeons can change and customize everything about themselves. Layout, Mobs, Traps, Puzzles, the only restriction is the intelligence of the Core. They can iterate indefinitely, try out new tactics and bosses, develop new magic and loot. You like playing Minecraft? This is like Minecraft where you are remaking yourself. Only the most depraved, insane, or evil of dungeons would ever consider being unfair, because being a “good” dungeon is just too fun.
For the record: a good dungeon doesn’t mean “doesn’t kill adventurers”. It means “doesn’t kill adventurers without giving them a chance”. If they choose to take on a fight they aren’t ready for, aren’t clever enough to figure a puzzle or trap out, or make poor choices, that’s on them. It’s a life and death battle every time you go into the dungeon, but it’s not rigged.
How do Dungeons grow?
So I’ve explained what Dungeon Core is, how it functions as a story and setting, and why it works. Now let’s start talking about some of the How. Baby Dungeon cores are born when a Power That Be (god, advanced alien race, supernatural force, whatever) takes a soul/mind, and implants it (benevolently or malevolently) into a Core (usually a crystal, but not necessarily). Its influence on its surroundings is usually minimal at this point, possibly unable to even influence the dirt beneath it. Then through some magical influence (or nanobots) it expands its influence into the ground and this gives it the power to shape its environment. Often somewhere between creation and it gaining a significant control over its surroundings, a fairy or other companion shows up to offer guidance and be a sounding board/manager for the dungeon. Remember: being a dungeon means infinite ability to change oneself, this is highly distracting, especially as the dungeon grows. The fairy serves to remind the dungeon of the minutia of the day, because the grand plans of the dungeon are often on the time horizon of weeks to centuries, and the hour to hour and minute to minute activities just slip their minds like an ADHD hyperfixating.
As the Dungeon expands, it forms rooms and traps, seeking compatible creatures to populate itself with. What do I mean by “compatible creatures”? Well dungeons often (but not always) have an affinity for certain things. This affinity then becomes the dungeon’s theme as Adventurers begin to show up. The extent which a dungeon can innovate from patterns they discover in nature or dropped by adventurers varies from world to world, but generally as a dungeon grows in power, mechanisms for improving and modifying things within the dungeon manifest and grow in significance until the dungeon achieves planck scale control over every aspect of itself.
Planck scale? Yes, planck scale: the smallest measurable distance. It can change itself from the subatomic scale up to the entire volume of its influence (which can grow to be the entire world (or beyond)). In case it wasn’t apparent to you why dungeons are so distracted until now, imagine how much time people spend playing minecraft or the Sims, now magnify that by being able to affect the details down to a subatomic scale. There is a lot of detail to get lost in, and that’s if we’re just considering the mundane, which we aren’t, because there is magic.
Now dungeons can’t cast spells quite like Adventurers do (or sometimes can do, but I digress). Dungeons usually have to work with “static” magics, often in the form of runescripts, but occasionally in other forms. Of course, these “static” magics are Turing Complete, so, much like programming languages, the Dungeon can create complicated scripts which will activate based upon conditions and proceed in a procedural way for often spectacular effects. (Again: taking over planets has featured in no less than 3 dungeon core novels I am familiar with).
In short: Dungeons have infinite potential to grow and customize themselves, which includes traps, achitecture, puzzles, mobs, and magical programming. Is there nothing which can stop them?
Threats to Dungeons
So if dungeons are so damn strong, why are there so many? Why did you call it a Red Queen’s Race? Why did you make such a point of there being always a bigger fish?
Well, simply put, infinite growth is the potential. The starting block, as I pointed out, is a rock in dirt. As a dungeon grows in power, it changes the landscape of the world around it (if not literally, politically and strategically). Dungeons are a great source of potential growth for the (similarly potentially infinitely powerful) Adventurers. But this also means they are a potential threat, since if a rival faction can secure and monopolize a dungeon, then they receive all the benefits and growth in power. It is a pretty common premise in Dungeon Core novels that wars can be, and in fact often are, fought over control of particularly fruitful and fair dungeons, especially ones with rare loot. Occasionally a “neutral” internation entity (such as the Adventurer’s Guild) does its best to secure a monopoly over as many dungeons as possible, allowing entrance in exchange for some form of tax on the gains of a dungeon party.
These wars will often result in the destruction of dungeons, either for resources to power magical weapons, or in a scorched earth strategy, what you can’t have, neither can your rival. But this isn’t the only kind of threat. As I said earlier, unfair dungeons are often destroyed by powerful Adventurers, culling them before they become too powerful to handle. This may even be done to fair dungeons if the powerful Adventurers feel it may become a threat to their power (although this is presumably much more rare).
Other threats include, in no particular order, wandering monsters, evil overlords, comicbook style villains, magical experiments going horribly wrong, deities, horned rabbits, earth elementals, volcanos, earthquakes, lunar apocalypses, and madmen. (Most, if not all, of these have shown up in dungeon core books I have read as explict threats to a dungeon’s survival).
So you’ve finished the Dungeon
Would you like a Dungeon Core novel? Well, you’ve made it to the end of my “much more than you wanted to know” about Dungeon Core novels. If what I’ve presented sounds good to you, I won’t leave you hanging, I have suggestions. This won’t be anything approaching a total vertical slice of Dungeon Core novels (in fact, I’ve not completed all that many series in the genre (it’s not as large as litrpg, but it’s still large enough it’s difficult to read them all)). Without further ado
Divine Dungeon by Dakota Krout
Dungeon Fairy by Jonathan Brooks
Station Core by Jonathan Brooks
Derelict by Dean Henegar
Dungeon of Chance by Jonathan Brooks
Boneless Dungeon by Devin Auspland
Bone Duneon by Jonathan Smidt
Dungeon World by Jonathan Brooks
Man that’s a lot of Jonathan Brooks. He is, by far, the most prolific author of Dungeon Core books. They’re good, pulpy books. He’s a bit of the Edgar Rice Borroughs of Dungeon Core: The actual stories are really that different, but the premise and settings are each very unique and it can be fun to see how he explores the same concepts in different circumstances.
Dakota Krout’s Divine Dungeon is what I consider to be an instant classic of the genre. It’s got thrills, chills, good fun and puns, the summer blockbuster which is fun for the whole family (literally. My 3yo listens to it on his kindle).
Jonathan Smidt (who is not Jonathan Brooks) has a very different direction than most Dungeon Core novels with rather intricate political plots from the get go. Definitely something to enjoy if you want something different but still fantasy.
Derelict is a Scifi Dungeon Core about a captain who becomes a dungeon in the form as a derelict spaceship. It’s definitely something I’d suggest to those who like their science fiction/science fantasy. It’s a very different kind of book from everything else, with a slant towards military history because that’s in everything Dean writes. (Something I adore but not everyone will.)
So, go on, go get whatever sounds best to you and dig in (literally). You’ll be in for a wild ride if you haven’t gotten into it before, and if you have, maybe I’ve let you know about something new you aren’t aware of.
Now it’s November ninth, and since I likely won’t be posting again in the next day, Semper Fi Marines and Happy Birthday. And have a memorable Veteran’s day to my brothers in arms, both crayon eater and otherwise.
-Wo’ah the Wise