Meadows > Black Forest > Swamps > Mountains > Plains. This is the area progression,

Gain Troll armor. Farm various foods. Honey, meat, berries, whatever keeps your health and stamina up. Explore the Black Forest for bee hives. Rudolph, the 9-volt reindeer is a pushover regardless of gear. Kill it and gain the antler for mining.

Scour the edges of the Black Forest for Tin deposits and in the forest for Copper. My advise, armor-wise, is skip Bronze armor as it isn't worth it. Use the tin, copper, and bronze for the quality of life items like food improvement and weapons.

Next, make poison resist potions. Once you do this, you can enter the swamps(never enter the swamps without poison resists). Explore the area for crypts, mark them on you map, and return home. Crypts hold iron. Iron is your next armor/weapons material, as well as other things.

You should be well off around this time. Good luck.