Canticle to the Goddess

Overview

Canticle to the Goddess is an 8-page adventure made for the recent Knave 2e Adventure Game Jam by Jim Laskey and really stood out for its unique and creative ideas.

The adventure involves dealing with multiple factions in a temple divided into five sections, each featuring its own challenges and hazards. It includes a table for events that change the dungeon’s dynamics and optional musical puzzles that can be used on doors between the sections.

The temple, where the adventure takes place, is more like a maze through an intricate machine than a connected series of combat encounters. The PCs will likely need to balance avoiding turning factions against them with the long-term goal of disabling the machine, but each step toward disabling it increases hostility and the potential for confrontation.

Setting

In Canticle to the Goddess, PCs venture to the mountain temple of Sibelium, a once-sacred place where villagers sang to bring the goddess’s blessings. Now, the temple has been transformed by a sorcerer’s dark magic into a monstrous machine, endlessly churning out music to keep the goddess trapped and charmed. This overwhelming sound has devastated the region, driving people mad and triggering natural disasters. Inside the dungeon-like temple, players must navigate four musical sections—brass, pipe organ, strings, and percussion—each filled with hostile monks, powerful First Chair leaders, and dangerous machinery. Their ultimate goal is to silence the temple’s Conductor, free the goddess, and escape before the collapsing temple traps them within.

The approach to the temple is marked by the thunderous resonance of music carried down the mountain. A narrow valley in front of the temple serves as a hub for refugees, monks, and opportunists drawn to the power of the goddess. Speakers line the cliffs, blasting music that can deafen anyone who gets too close, while monks roam among the refugees, distributing hymn books and collecting alms. It’s a chaotic, desperate environment where supplies are scarce, tensions run high, and any interference risks drawing attention from both monks and the mercenary guards stationed here. PCs must navigate this bustling area, using social skills and subtlety to gather intel, acquire supplies, or find secret entrances to bypass the heavily guarded gates leading into the temple’s sections.

Highlights

This module stands out as a great addition to an ongoing campaign world with its versatile setup and numerous natural entry points for player involvement. The backstory is rich and well-integrated, with plenty of hooks for PCs—from rumors of a trapped goddess and the escalating madness plaguing nearby villages, to patrons offering rewards for freeing the goddess or retrieving instruments. It feels like a living, reactive environment rather than a static dungeon, offering players open-ended choices to either stealthily disable sections of the temple or, if things go sideways, face unique factions like the industrious Lizt kobolds or the fervent monks. Each section has its own flavor, from the steam-filled brass halls patrolled by kobolds and hobgoblins to the strings section with its magma-flooded bridge and deadly moving bows, making every area feel like a distinct challenge.

What makes Canticle to the Goddess especially engaging is its focus on clever problem-solving and hazard management over combat. It invites players to weigh their choices carefully, as aggravating either the monks or the kobolds can lead to an escalating series of conflicts. I really appreciate that the adventure encourages players to subtly undermine the temple’s grand machine, a massive, malfunctioning structure that feels as much a character as any NPC, by disrupting the music sections rather than simply fighting through foes. This is a module with personality: the sheer creativity in each section, from the sprawling pipe organ with its air elementals to the resonant percussion caverns echoing with giant drum beats, makes for a vibrant experience. It has an inherently humorous tone, from the overly zealous First Chair monks like Bonham smashing drums with tree trunks, to the eccentric kobold captain Pakabel, riding on a metal golem and barking orders. However, it’s flexible enough that GMs can add a darker, more somber atmosphere, emphasizing themes of decay, a well-intentioned tradition turned to ruin, and the struggle to maintain a machine on the verge of collapse for personal ambition if that better fits the tone of your game.

Expansion

This module provides such a strong base that, in addition to a potential change in tone, here are a few ideas for expanding on the core concepts or potential ideas to adjust the base.

Malevolent Entity

As written, the trapped goddess is a benevolent entity, and stopping the music is generally presented as an obvious positive outcome. Making the trapped goddess a malevolent entity introduces more nuance and an element of meaningful choice for the players. Should they proceed to shut down the music, or instead work with the monks to defend the temple and stop the kobolds from dismantling the machinery for scrap? If the PCs decide to defend the temple, then implementing the global event where a contingent of knights is sent to dismantle the temple recontextualizes the hazards, as the PCs can then approach them from a defensive mindset.

Music’s Effect on Reality

The music itself could be more than just a volume problem. The music required to keep the goddess contained could have a whole series of reality-distorting byproducts. Extraplanar entities could be introduced into the temple, or transformations to the landscape or temple itself could occur. Sections might change drastically when the music is stopped, or there could be additional dungeons added, involving navigation through distorted mazes.

Opposing Factions

Expanding on the idea of a nearby city sending a contingent of knights, a rival group or religious order could seek to take over the temple for their own uses. They could even be the initial hook for the PCs, recruiting them to stop the current Conductor so they can take over once things are done. This group could have a variety of motivations, ranging from well-informed to wildly inaccurate. If they are successful and mistaken in how things actually play out, it could potentially bring in a whole new set of problems for the PCs.

Conclusion

Canticle to the Goddess is a cleverly designed, imaginative module that brings a refreshing twist to adventure structure. Its mix of factions, environmental hazards, and musical puzzles offers GMs plenty of ways to keep players engaged, and it’s flexible enough to fit a variety of tones and campaign styles. Best of all, this unique adventure is free to download, so if you’re looking for a memorable addition to your campaign, definitely check it out.