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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fifth Element" data-source="post: 8589502" data-attributes="member: 48135">Given that I have argued the latter, and was told that I was incorrect to do so, the former seems to be the preference of at least a few posters. The (grammatically uncontroversial) statement that in Players(') Handbook, Players can be either a possessive or a descriptive adjective was met with pushback. Anyone who did choose (1) is demonstrably incorrect.If the form is possessive, it is a book that belongs to players. If it is descriptive, it is a book that pertains to players.Umbran's Handbook is a handbook that belongs to you. The Umbran Handbook is a handbook pertaining to you.Players' Handbook is a handbook that belongs to the players. The Players Handbook is a handbook pertaining to players.Since descriptive adjectives ending in -s are relatively uncommon, many people make the mistake of thinking that the latter Players must be intended to be possessive, since most of the time when then see an adjective in front of a noun like that it is intended to be a possessive. This mistake is common enough that it has a name: a false possessive.If one insists that Players must have an apostrophe, this can only mean that one does not accept that plural adjectives can be used in this form, because the apostrophe necessarily indicates a possessive. This stance would necessitate the rejection of, for example, Data Handbook as an acceptable form, since Data is plural. But I don't think anyone here would claim that Data Handbook, being a book pertaining to data, is grammatically or orthographically incorrect. Players Handbook is in the same form.The fact that TSR changed their chosen style between 1E and 2E (in fact, they changed it between the Companion Rules - which still used the descriptive form - and the Master Rules which used the possessive form) certainly seems to have added to the confusion. But the former style is perfectly valid, as is the latter style.</blockquote>

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