D&D: Creative Ways To Keep Your Party From A TPK

screenrant.com:

Sometimes a Dungeons & Dragons party is clearly heading for a total party kill, and the Dungeon Master is left wondering how they can salvage the situation before it is too late. The obvious answer would be to tell the players that they are about to make a lethal decision and encourage them away from it. While this solves the problem, it can lead to a lack of verisimilitude and give the Dungeon Master too much perceived authority over the players' actions. Often, the Dungeon Master will have to do constant and intricate work behind the screen to keep the party away from an untimely (or undeserved) demise and do so without revealing how the game is being guided.

There are many ways to wipe out a full partybefore reaching the end of a long-running Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Enemy encounters, even ones that the Dungeon Master has meticulously balanced, can turn lethal if the dice rolls are in favor of the enemies. Often, if there are more enemies (even lower powered ones) than there are party members, the odds of a total party kill increase dramatically. Outside of combat, the party can choose a course of action, such as spitting on the king's shoes or poking a sleeping ancient red dragon repeatedly. These actions would logically result in death or another campaign-ending event, yet the party could be insistent that it is the correct course of action for continued success. This often leads to an imprisoned or barbequed party, and a Dungeon Master pinching the bridge of their nose.

Related: Which D&D Maps Are Biggest (For Official 5e Campaigns)

Creatively avoiding a classic TPK, including keeping evil D&D parties from killing each other requires the Dungeon Master to think of ways to dissuade or otherwise alter the course