I draw my inspiration for how to structure adventures from Death Test, which has a lot of small encounters that each have a chance to inflict some damage on the heroes.
To resist this attrition the PCs have wizards (who must carefully select where to apply spells as chances for rest are limited) and talents such as:
- Physicker to heal injuries after each fight
- Toughness, which acts like your skin is armor
- Missile Weapons and Weapons expertise to be much more effective in combat
- And tactics to control the tactical siuation.
But mostly just blow most of your starting cash on healing potions.