If [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] didn't know already.
I hope they don't. The game was not designed that way. Some imperial measures are bound to game balance elements. The solution I would rather see is keep the imperial measures for reference and uniformity. To make the game more aproachable they can provide aproximate conversion values, tables, tools, etc...
5 feet is almost precisely 1,5 meters, a conversion very easy to do on the fly. Divide for 10 and multiply by 3. For instance 30 feet is 9 meters.
The problem I think I have is not really about game balance, so I take that back.
The point is: measure conversions usually bring some issues that most of the time are dealed with rounding some numbers and I like too see the original to decide by myself if the approximation is worth or not in the circumstance.
I'm not thinking only about feets and meters, but all measures that are used in the game and sometimes don't translate easily. There are rules like encumbrance and jump that rely on certain unities of measurement that when converted end with weird fractured numbers.
For instance, if you use encumbrance rules you rely on the weight of the itens that are usually given a round number in pounds or a simple fraction like 1/2. If you want to make it easy for someone who are thinking in the ISU you end with numbers like 453,592 grams for 1 pound. You could round to 500 or half Kilogram, and decide that's good enough, but I'm not sure.
There is also the miles, which convert to approximately 1,6 km, gallons aprox. 3.7 liters, etc...
Perhaps I'm thinking about this because I had some issues with some conversions from Mutants & Masterminds 2e, but that game tend to deal with very big numbers where precision issues can make a diference. Anyway, it might be just a personal taste and perhaps I'm crazy, but I like to look at the numbers "as intended". I'd even manage to do a rationalization that if you're portraying a medieval world, it doesn't make sense to talk in very "scientific" measure unities, but that's just crazy, I know.
So sorry, if my previous comment sounded harsh, but I still prefer conversions as an extra. By the way, Onyx Path did a good job on the V20 book where they kept the Imperial Measures, but offered a approximate ISU conversions side by side.
PS. I having a problem with the reply feature. When I try to compose my comment in the box it doesn't accept empty spaces. That's why I'm not properly quoting comments.
@LanlissOver on the D&DB forums, someone suggested simply changing any mention of "Feet" to meters. So a characters speed is 30 "Meters", they can jump a number of "Meters" equal to their strength score, and spells have a range of 60 "meters". Everything gets a lot bigger, but it is a simple enough conversion to make. Either that or make every square a meter, which actually goes in the opposite direction, but accomplishes pretty much the same goal of putting everything on a single measurement. The point is, as the poster on the other forums put it, that the unit is irrelevant. It could just as easily be "Units", "Cubits", or "Kumquats", so long as it is all kept constant.
@Lanliss
Well, that's a worse idea than I tought. I would not like if they do anything like this.
If that's the point I can't even understand why people care about this.
I mean, if you don't care about the precise representation of units in terms of imaginary distance, weight or volume, why care about the units? They're just words after all. Can't you just do it on the fly? If the book says 2 pounds, you pretend it said 2 Kilograms. That's fine if it suits your style. But why mess with the words in the book? Leave than be for those who want to deal with the extra hassle...
it assists in tactical terms. Playing ToTM, someone familiar with the metric system will hear "3 meters" and have a general estimate of how far away that is, as opposed to needing an equation to tell them that "10 feet away" means "3 meters".
Lastly, if they are already messing with literally every other word in the book to translate it, I don't see why they cannot go for the extra effort of using a calculator to convert all mentions of the imperial measurement system to metric.