I might have to try your twist on permadeath. Normal PD is pretty much how I played until Mistlands came out, but I suspended it, thinking that I would never make it to Mistlands (probably true), but keeping some progress would make it much more doable.

My last playthough before Mistlands was a no-map, no-portal, perrmadeath run, and I ended up dying while planning my "retirement home"!

I was nearing end-game, so I went looking for a place to build my permanent base, and found a beautiful spot on the shore of a lake in black forest and meadows, with a small patch of plains just over the hill for farming.

There was nothing on that little patch of plains, but, as it turns out, it could still spawn fulings without warning!