How do I cite a handbook or adventure module for a tabletop role-playing game such as Dungeons and Dragons?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.

If you are citing a published handbook or adventure module for a tabletop role-playing game such as Dungeons and Dragons, treat the work as you would any other book in MLA style and follow the MLA format template. Some published handbooks or adventures may be produced by many people playing various roles, so if your discussion of such a work does not focus on an individual’s contribution to the volume, begin the entry with the title of the work.

Player’s Handbook. Wizards of the Coast, 2014.

Storm King’s Thunder. Wizards of the Coast, 2016.

If your discussion of such a work focuses on the contribution of a particular person or group of people, begin the entry with their names, followed by a descriptive label.

Crawford, Jeremy, Player’s Handbook lead. Player’s Handbook. Wizards of the Coast, 2014.

Perkins, Christopher, lead designer. Storm King’s Thunder. Wizards of the Coast, 2016.

If you are summarizing unpublished story information that was created by an individual, you would not need to include a works-cited-list entry. Instead, include all relevant information in your sentence.

In 2016 Samantha Jones created a Dungeons and Dragons campaign in which the players explored a haunted castle.