Yesterday I was scrambling for game night content because of an unexpected player cancellation. With less than an hour to prepare, I chose Cairn because I could easily scan the rules, and easily share the link to the SRD with my players; and I settled on this adventure as our one-shot because of the mix of its compact, easily-readable size, helpful formatting, and flavorful and interesting concepts. This was my players' first experience of an old-school dungeon, and they loved it. Thank you!
I enjoyed the concept of the PCs beginning the adventure with their goal right beside them, but then having to manage the logistics of exploring to find their way out while also dedicating two PCs to lugging the MacGuffin around (unable to carry torches or weapons) - that was great. Finding the destroyed camp and bodies of other adventurers gave them delicious (to me) anxiety; and all the scattered bits of treasure - the bracelet, the medallion, the gold coins glimmering at the bottom of a pool - made them drool with greed. They managed to survive and succeed thanks to luck and prudent use of powerful one-use magic items from Cairn 2E character creation (including a seed that could instantly freeze a body of water of any size, which they used to freeze the waterfall, Grendel's mother, and the protean thing [without even knowing it was there] all at the same time).
Thanks to this adventure, I know we'll be playing more dungeon games in the future. Thank you again!!