ok, tried again in a new world with .11. A creeper exploded somewhere outside and the blast of the explosion still killed me inside of the base. So I thought: no problem, after all this isn't hardcore. The issue is now that my items didn't drop? there is also no grave from what I can tell. Are items just supposed to disappear when you die?
There's no grave. Instead, there will be your corpse (skeleton) lying on the ground. The turrets might shoot it away from your death point, though. You can right-click the skeleton to access its inventory, or you can break it with a shovel.