D20 Modern - Feet or Meters

[FJ]

I am trying to find out if D20 Modern will use an imperial or metric measurement system.

The main reason is that I want to finish of a mapping system I am developing. One of my main aims is to make it compatible with D20 Modern and thus I need to know what measurement system will be used.

 

[Cergorach]

Can't you make it compatible with both?

 

[Gez]

As far as I know, CoC and Star Wars use meters, not those idiotic outdated inconsistent aberrations known as feet, inchs and miles. So d20 modern would probably use meters as well.

 

[tensen]

We Americans just want to taunt the rest of the world and make you use our standards instead of changing to the universal standard.

 

[Ron]

Wouldn't be funny to have something actually called "modern" to use an antique system as the imperial one? I went to a FLGS saturday and, for my disapointment, found out that CoC d20 still follow the "stupid" system (as it is called almost everywhere in the world). The funny thing is that it is not difficult to have dual stats and please everybody. Eden studios' Witchcraft and All Flesh Must Be Eaten do that!

 

[Moon_Goddess]

I certainly hope it uses both if for no other reason than to prevent the forgieners to stop complaining when a game published BY americans, FOR americans, does it our way instead of theirs.

 

[Blacksad]

I certainly hope it uses both if for no other reason than to prevent the forgieners to stop complaining when a game published BY americans, FOR americans, does it our way instead of theirs.

Don't Brazil, Mexico and Canada use the metric system ?

 

[The Sigil]

Oh, come on...

Don't Brazil, Mexico and Canada use the metric system ?

Oh, come ON, now... the Imperial system is so cool... all the cool countries are using it. The United States uses it, along with other world superpowers such as... um... er... um... Trinidad and Tobago?

*ahem*

Actually, I've lived in Europe and my area of study was Physics so I have no problem with the metric system - I can envision one liter of milk, three deciliters of soda, one kilogram of ground beef, sixteen meters, and so forth.

The fact is that the United States is too stubborn/lazy to change... probably more lazy than stubborn. I had hoped that the infamous "Mars Probe" incident (you know, the one where the stupid American scientists thought they were using foot-pounds when they were really using Newtons and wound up smashing their probe into Mars) would have convinced the US that it really *IS* more expensive to stick to the Imperial system. Alas, no. I love the U.S., but we do a lot of really stupid things - our copyright laws get held hostage by a mouse, our judicial system is the laughingstock of the Free World thanks to both the O.J. Trial and the 2000 presidential election, and of course, we use the Imperial system. Bleah. We just have too darn many stupid people with too darn much money and too darn much power running our country. Other than that, it's a great place.

--The Sigil

 

[Psion]

Re: Oh, come on...

Oh, come ON, now... the Imperial system is so cool... all the cool countries are using it. The United States uses it, along with other world superpowers such as... um... er... um... Trinidad and Tobago?

Um, which country is publishing it now? Hmmm...

Actually, I've lived in Europe and my area of study was Physics so I have no problem with the metric system - I can envision one liter of milk, three deciliters of soda, one kilogram of ground beef, sixteen meters, and so forth.

Good for you. The same cannot be said about a majority of the audience.

The fact is that the United States is too stubborn/lazy to change... probably more lazy than stubborn.

Speaking as an engineering graduate, stubborn. My education would have been much easier if I didn't have to learn slugs and foot pounts and other annoying and difficult to work with units. There are too many greybeards that are happy with it the way it is. It's probably going to take a few more generations before it sets in in the scientific and engineering communities, and some time after that before it sets in in the public... if that.

However, I think WotC would be remiss to publish a game around assumptions of what the "superior" units system is. What people know and are comfortable using is far more important.

I had hoped that the infamous "Mars Probe" incident (you know, the one where the stupid American scientists thought they were using foot-pounds when they were really using Newtons and wound up smashing their probe into Mars) would have convinced the US that it really *IS* more expensive to stick to the Imperial system.

That's entirely specious. The problem came by failure to convert between metric and imperial units. It's easy to say that if everyone was working in metric there would not have been a problem. But by the same token, if everyone ignored the metric system and stuck to imperial, there wouldn't be a problem, either. In fact, I bet the incident, if anything, slowed the adoption of the metric system.

At any rate, back to the point: I really doubt d20 modern will be metric.

 

[Troll Lord]

I don't want to weigh in too much on the old bashing of the "standard" system, but . . . one might consider the costs of retooling much of the American economic industrial complex as being prohibitive of the US adopting the metric system.

In a related case, we switched our main combat infantry assault weapon from the M14 to the M16 in order to adapt our cartridges to those fired by our Nato allies (standard 5.62 (?) round), which is a wholly inferior weapon in combat.