Originally posted by NecessaryWeevil:

So I was trying to set up a tiny portal base on semi-submerged sandbar just off the swamp near Bonemass. A draugr swum out and I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to my hp bar because somehow it killed me.
I dredged through my chests at my main base and managed get enough for a longboat. I portalled as close as possible to the area where I died, assembled my longboat and sailed out there. Night was falling when I finally arrived so I parked in the tiny black forest biome sandwiched between the swamp and a plains biome. I was immediately attacked by some sort of squeaky little fire guy, so I sailed away. As I turned around I was attacked by a sea monster, so I ran up onto the beach again and managed to kill the fire guy. Went back to my sandbar, was ambushed by a wraith and three blobs that came out of nowhere, died again.
Sigh.
Anyone else have "the game wants me to quit" moments?

Your attempts are quite spastic, and that is what you're doing wrong.

1. No matter how hard it is to stay alive at Swamps, walking through Plains is just asking to make simple issues into big troubles. If you have issues walking through water because leeches bite you - look for cattails - they only grow on shallow waters. You can use them to recognize water zones that are safe from leeches, that won't make you swim.
   
2. Use bow to draw aggro, so you don't have to deal with all the enemies at the same time. Don't forget that you can always run away, and then come back to try again.
   
3. Always buff yourself up. Get the Rested stamina buff. Eat food that provides increased health regeneration.
   
4. Control your health and your stamina. 2 big mistakes I used to do were not paying much attention to my stamina, which made consequent fights deadly/resultless, and not paying much attention to my health. It is always a good idea to wait it out and let both regenerate to full. The stamina issue is twice bad at Swamps because of constant Wet debuff, that is also multiplied by Cold debuff, if you're not careful enough about when to rescue your stuff.

I have 3 sets of food at one of my chests:

1. "I'm going to be doing almost nothing, but someone might try to poke me with sticks" set, consisting of glowing shrooms, cooked meat and some berries
   
2. "I'm going to fight regular enemies" set, consisting of turnip stew, carrot soup and sausages
   
3. "I'm knee deep in ♥♥♥♥" set, consisting of Lox pie, Serpent Stew and blood sausage.

I also never dispose of my older armor, because I use it to get my lost armor back. The previous tier armor is usually enough for that sole purpose.