You mean to tell me that you'd send your level 1 mule to get the remains of your hero (who's now in the belly of a shark) so that he could be revived at a temple? Your mule wouldn't last the first encounter past Ishad N'Ha, and you're hero would still be dead 'cause no one could bring him back to civilization... unless of course another hero happened to stumble on his remains and get his hands on that 1500000 gp that was it's bags
Anyway, I know how to use the save/load options... I use them all the time when I'm done playing for the day. I just like to get the max out of a game. The only game I played that I wasn't able to finish in one life was Diablo... I got wacked on four different occasions by Diablo himself (after about 55 games)... but I still managed to finish the game with the good old reload.
Once you've finished the game in one piece and on your first and only life, you know you've beaten the game.
As for the Wizard Solo start-up strategy... I would say that running will take you further than using a shield spell. On my first tries, I changed to a Ranger to get the "Disarm Trap" spell and then to a Paladin to get "Heal".
This time around, my first switch was to Barbarian. I boosted the lockpick (lvl 6) and by the time I killed that first mummy in the Crypt, I had 80 HP. It's not alot but for a wizard it's pretty good. I just finished the Serpent Temple and so far, I only used 5 little health potions and 7 cure poison potions... and I still don't have Spirit Craft and Vine Craft !!!
Anyway, Sazerac, how's your guy doing?