Some stuff about units of measurement and spelling

[Zio_the_dark]

I think it is easier to adapt from metric/imperial distances to abstract distances than the opposite, so IMO a5e should keep the detailed option. Regarding metric vs. imperial, I've been calculating for so long that it makes no difference at all, not anymore.

I'm doing it for long time too but when my brain sees 600 ft it takes a bit longer than 30 ft to convert even if the calculation are simple each half-second concentrating on something like this is a time waste while running a game. But I agree detailed option must be kept (and it will be kept I'm sure too many people are playing with mats and figurines or VTT)

 

[Horwath]

I'm doing it for long time too but when my brain sees 600 ft it takes a bit longer than 30 ft to convert even if the calculation are simple each half-second concentrating on something like this is a time waste while running a game. But I agree detailed option must be kept (and it will be kept I'm sure too many people are playing with mats and figurines or VTT)

As someone who was born into metric system and 1st time I came in contact with medieval unit in 1999 when I started playing dnd, hahaha!!

but converting is easy, just divide feets by 3 for meters and multiply miles by 1,5 for kilometers. even if it is not 100% correct.

And overland is easy if you simple down the calculations.
Speed in ft per round equals miles per day(8hr travel) od multiply by 1,5 for km.

 

[Zio_the_dark]

As someone who was born into metric system and 1st time I came in contact with medieval unit in 1999 when I started playing dnd, hahaha!!

but converting is easy, just divide feets by 3 for meters and multiply miles by 1,5 for kilometers. even if it is not 100% correct.

And overland is easy if you simple down the calculations.
Speed in ft per round equals miles per day(8hr travel) od multiply by 1,5 for km.

Thanks I already know how to convert
As I said even if it's only half a second it distracts my mind while I have better things to do when DMing a game with 5-6 players plus all NPC/monsters I run ^^

Edit: it's the same thing as optimizing a computer code, sure an additional operation is not much overhead bud if you do it in a while/for loop for many iterations the final timing execution of the code is noticeably longer even in the 5GHz area

 

[tetrasodium]

This American expat wishes more TTRPGs would use metric measurements. Sure, Imperial has an antiquated feel to them, but it's a nuisance having to constantly convey these measurements to continental Europeans.

Using metric in a ttrpg raises the bar for a gm to use maps from other sources as 5ft squares are the defacto norm in nearly every ttrpg for so long. Yes you can convert by using math to say a square is 1.5m or 2m but having movement measured in fractional values gets into awkwardness at the table in various ways & rounding it up to 5ft=2m can lead to strange scaling issues. See also swatch internet time

 

[Morrus]

Ducks in

Oh we're still on this?

ducks back out

 

[Faolyn]

Using metric in a ttrpg raises the bar for a gm to use maps from other sources as 5ft squares are the defacto norm in nearly every ttrpg for so long. Yes you can convert by using math to say a square is 1.5m or 2m but having movement measured in fractional values gets into awkwardness at the table in various ways & rounding it up to 5ft=2m can lead to strange scaling issues. See also swatch internet time

Meh, just go with 2m ~ 5 feet. Which isn't accurate, of course, but it's easily divisible and isn't so far off as to makes maps weird.

 

[turnip_farmer]

This American expat wishes more TTRPGs would use metric measurements. Sure, Imperial has an antiquated feel to them, but it's a nuisance having to constantly convey these measurements to continental Europeans.

Hah. Yes - having grown up in Britain I am familiar with both systems; but I often forget that my European players only know that 5ft = 1 square. So they look at me blankly when I start saying things like 'it's about 20 yards away'.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I am not sure I would have translated "5 ft" to "1.5 meters" given the unease to handle fractional values either and it doesn't help that the more commonly used ranges (30 ft = many spells and the distance covered in a move action by most characters, 60 ft = many spells agian and the distance covered in a move and dash round) ends up being 9m and 18m, which feels oddly "not round". The need for precise distance arises from use of squares on a map, but with theater of the mind handwaving movement is much easier. [I usually end up not saying "the bad guy is 84 meters away but "You'd need 8 rounds to reach him, 4 if you dash all along". In a fight to the death, I doubt people would be able to do accurate measurement like "The target is 150 ft away, the blast of my fireball is 20 ft radius and its range is 150 ft, so I can safely move 15 ft away from him before casting it and he'll still be engulfed in fire". I feel we're carrying over cumbersome unit considerations that are important only in one playstyle.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

My 2¢...

Measurements: Use both. Put one in brackets. If that's "too much work", put it in Metric, but put a conversion table in the front/back. (e.g. "Plate Armor: Wt. 25kg [55lb]")

Spelling? Either or. Armor/Armour... Living in Canada most of my life I tend towards the Canadian spellings, obviously, which includes ample use of the letter "u" as well as switching "el" and "le", or "er" and "re" around at the end of some words.

I find I use both. I like my "general ht/wt of people" to be in feet/pounds, but I like my longer distances in kilometers, as well as speeds... shorter distances up to about 300' or so in, well, feet. Oh, and I like liters in stead of gallons. Small distances I seem to use mm/cm and inches/fractions more or less interchangeably (e.g., "The book is about 11"x8", and maybe 2cm thick"...yeah...nutty...teach me to live the first 1/5th of my life in the US, in the US school system...then the rest in Canada! I'm so conflicted with my measurements!... LOL! ).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[SirMoogle]

At this point I feel measurements should be world-specific lingo, like yalms or something. I get that feet/metres are used so that people can visualise the dimensions, but it should be consolidated under one system.