Base measurement in DDN

[jadrax]

And those of us outside the US never, ever use feet for anything (except maybe walking... maybe), whereas we use meters for everything.

Speak for yourself. Everyone in the UK knows their height in feet and inches.

 

[Mercutio01]

I vote meters, failing that than yards (which can easily be converted to meters). My bigges problem with the current system is that it makes corridors and rooms too small, why the heck does a smal creature take a space 5' x 5'? That's literally a meter and a half square, a 10 feet corridor should be able to hold three fully armed people abreast, four if they all use firearms and are friendly...

Warder

I feel like I see this a lot. I was just in a high school the other day (job interview), and the 15 foot wide corridors could indeed have 5 or 6 students walking abreast. That said, I'm not sure if I placed a two-foot long sword in their hands and had them ready to fight each other if those same 5 or 6 people would fit in that space. I'd say you might get 3 or 4. That maps pretty well to my experience in martial arts training.

So, yeah, 5x5 is odd when you're just talking about people walking shoulder to shoulder, but allowing space to swing a weapon and not slice off a friend's hand or head, giving that extra space isn't too bad.

I suppose a yard would work. It's not a deal-breaker by any means, but I voted for 5 feet because it's easier for mapping purposes (and I do a lot of mapping using GIMP)

 

[Steely_Dan]

Speak for yourself. Everyone in the UK knows their height in feet and inches.

Total.

I have no problems with the metric system, but for D&D: inches, feet, yards, miles, fathoms, leagues etc, please.

About this 1 meter/yard = 1 square, would a medium creature occupy a space around 3 feet tall and wide?

 

[Fifth Element]

Speak for yourself. Everyone in the UK knows their height in feet and inches.

Yeah, for some reason in Canada human height is generally (though not officially) measured in feet, and human weight is generally (though not officially) measured in pounds. But distance is generally metric, with the older folks still often using miles instead of kilometres. I have no real concept of how far a mile is, other than theoretically. But I can tell when I've driven a kilometre.

 

[arscott]

Local D&D translations have rounded up the 5-foot square to a 2-meter square (which is, IIRC, the Star Wars Saga measurement).

Interestingly, SW didn't just arbitrarily make the squares bigger--they converted the 30 foot standard move into 10 meters, which meant it was only five squares. It helped make ranged combat a stand out a bit more, which was nice given the blaster-focused setting.

 

[sheadunne]

Total.

I have no problems with the metric system, but for D&D: inches, feet, yards, miles, fathoms, leagues etc, please.

About this 1 meter/yard = 1 square, would a medium creature occupy a space around 3 feet tall and wide?

If the world used halfling measurements it would

I vote 5 feet. It's what was said an inch measures in most versions of D&D. And while I empathize with our non-USA brothers and sisters, let's keep the game as close to what we've played for decades as possible.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

And those of us outside the US never, ever use feet for anything (except maybe walking... maybe), whereas we use meters for everything.

3 feet = 1 yard = 1 meter = 1 square would work for me!

Human land speed = 10 yards.

Yes, but nothing says "archaic" like using imperial measurements. Fantasy just doesn't sound right with metres, even for those of us who use accurate measurements in real life.

 

[Li Shenron]

I would always be for the metrical system in a modern/sci-fi RPG, and for the imperial system in a fantasy/medieval RPG.

Squares, no thanks.

 

[TerraDave]

The yard, by coincidence, has a number of advantages

-its proximity to the meter (as noted)
-it actually sort of old fashioned, and was a medieval measure
-1 yard squares work well for converting old dungeons (a 10' square is 3x3 instead of 2x2) and actually works pretty well with the oversized minis that seem to be the standard these days.

 

[StAlda]

I think what most people overlook is that in combat you attack the adjacent square. Which means anyone in any adjacent square could get hit with a wildly swung sword. That's why soldiers train in close quarters. And if you have an ability to attack all enemies surrounding you, you have you cover 15 square feet with a 4 foot long sword. 9 square feet (or 3 square YARDS) seems more realistic. If you think yards isn't archaic enough, how about cubits?
So now the debate can be 2 cubit squares or 4 cubit squares.

As far as translating old adventures, I wouldn't convert feet (10 feet becomes 3 squares), I'd convert squares (2 squares become 2 yards (6 feet). 10 foot wide hallways? Seems excessive to me, especially if you are tunneling.