well, success is a quantifiable word. in this case, success meant finishing the game as per the explicit rules set. a big spoiler: I did.
it was a surprisingly enticing evening of playing. I re-rolled the character a couple of times until, around 23:30, their stats were favourable where it mattered. then some early surviving meant I was in the right track.
from that point on all I had to do was to be careful and inspect all rooms (all new rooms) and return to base with resources enough to survive. it became a game of balancing risk and reward, exploration and exploitation. going further or into unknown areas is more risky, but retreating after every combat takes a lot of time and is not so thrilling (although the race back to base is fraught with dangers, so you never know).
[WIP]