What is TPK?

Heya,

Short one this time around.  I hate gamer-talk sometimes.  We develop our own jargon that we assume everyone gets but really just creates a taller barrier to entry to new people into the hobby.  If you’re reading this entry, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if you typed, “What’s a TPK” into Google after seeing it on a post at RPGnet or something.  I’m here for ya.

TPK is an acronym for Total Party Kill.  It’s simply when everyone in an adventuring party (usually a traditional fantasy, sci-fi, or horror RPG) ends up dead after an encounter.  It could be because of player error, GM error, a combination of both, or some really bad luck on the dice.  It happens. 

Anyway, I’m defining this here because I plan on using this jargon (and linking back to this post) in a future entry and just want to have my bases covered.
Peace,

-Troy