D&D General Here's What A 5' Square Actually Looks Like

Over on imgur, a user called DoofusDad created a real-life five-foot square to illustrate what it actually looks like.

 

[Arvok]

I've been toying with the idea of creating a fantasy measure unit using this number. I call the area I can cover with one step a Rose (not my most humble moment there, but I also like the metaphor of one circular spot where you can comfortably dance in that kinda looks like a flower's petals). Also I call 200 steps/the length of 100 aligned Roses (about 150m) a Rose Field.

The foot is 12 inches because that's how long Charlemagne's foot was. It used to be that the foot was always re-calculated to be the length of the current monarch's foot (and thus might vary from kingdom to kingdom), but Charlemagne standardized it and declared it permanent throughout the HRE. It eventually became standard throughout the Western world.

So...your idea isn't all that arrogant, historically speaking.

 

[R_Chance]

Same reason the game uses a decimalized currency system. It’s more convenient.

I guess I like "inconvenient"

I use 12 copper pennies = 1 silver schilling, 12 silver schilling = 1 gold crown. A gold coin minted by a non-royal state is a "mark" and I have half pennies too! I vary the names of the coinage in different areas / nations. And Elves refuse to use copper coinage, the Dwarves invented that. A platinum imperial is an ancient Elvish coin (magically smelted). The dwarves use a electrum (gold and silver) half crown too... and merchant houses mint trade coins (and use letters of credit with magical watermarks). Silver is the basic monetary metal rather than gold btw, making copper useful for change and gold useful to save weight / bulk. So much fun with coins

Customizing coinage (and weights and measures) is useful for world building. And counterfeiting is a thing, with shaving drilling and debased currency thrown in as well...

I'm rambling, as usual, between grading papers sigh

 

[PsyzhranV2]

A fey days ago, some HEMA guys from the Netherlands posted an Imgur album of themselves trying to fight in adjacent 5x5 squares. Here:

 

[Charlaquin]

I guess I like "inconvenient"

I use 12 copper pennies = 1 silver schilling, 12 silver schilling = 1 gold crown. A gold coin minted by a non-royal state is a "mark" and I have half pennies too! I vary the names of the coinage in different areas / nations. And Elves refuse to use copper coinage, the Dwarves invented that. A platinum imperial is an ancient Elvish coin (magically smelted). The dwarves use a electrum (gold and silver) half crown too... and merchant houses mint trade coins (and use letters of credit with magical watermarks). Silver is the basic monetary metal rather than gold btw, making copper useful for change and gold useful to save weight / bulk. So much fun with coins

Customizing coinage (and weights and measures) is useful for world building. And counterfeiting is a thing, with shaving drilling and debased currency thrown in as well...

I'm rambling, as usual, between grading papers sigh

It’s fantastic for worldbuilding! Not so great for gameplay though. Leave it to a DM to worldbuild the fun out of the game. I’m no exception, it’s an instinct I have to constantly check myself on - is this awesome idea I had actually going to be fun for the people playing at my table? Does it improve the experience of playing the game, or do I just like it because it would be cool in a fantasy novel?

 

[TheCosmicKid]

American game, American rules. Besides, what was the last great song or piece of fiction that was entitled with a unit of the metric system - other than weight because that usually refers to elicit substances? The Who's "I Can See For Kilometers and Kilometers"? Ray Bradbury's classic "Celcius 233.33"? Go for a walk in the 2.83 Hectare Wood with Winnie the Pooh?

Umm... Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo?

 

[TheCosmicKid]

It’s fantastic for worldbuilding! Not so great for gameplay though. Leave it to a DM to worldbuild the fun out of the game. I’m no exception, it’s an instinct I have to constantly check myself on - is this awesome idea I had actually going to be fun for the people playing at my table? Does it improve the experience of playing the game, or do I just like it because it would be cool in a fantasy novel?

That's me and language proliferation right there.

 

[R_Chance]

It’s fantastic for worldbuilding! Not so great for gameplay though. Leave it to a DM to worldbuild the fun out of the game. I’m no exception, it’s an instinct I have to constantly check myself on - is this awesome idea I had actually going to be fun for the people playing at my table? Does it improve the experience of playing the game, or do I just like it because it would be cool in a fantasy novel?

Pretty much. My group likes this type of stuff though. let's me exercise that DM trivia muscle

 

[S'mon]

Umm... Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo?

No, seconds are Babylonian! 60 secs 60 minutes 24 hours.
The French Revolutionaries did want a metric 100 second 100 minute 10 hour system, but it didn't catch on.