D&D 4E Should 4e convert to metric?

[cignus_pfaccari]

The other advantage of this is that it brings the scale of rooms back down to a sensible, real-world size. If you have a corridor that's one square wide, a metre across is a bit more realistic than five feet, which is mildly ginormous.

Depends on what you're trying to model. It does make corridors incredibly narrow and requires people passing each other to be very friendly.

Edit: Also, remember the 5' square represents "amount of room required for a medium creature to not be cramped in combat," not "how much space I actually inhabit." People can and do cram into 5' squares all the time; I do so at least 4 times/day, in my building's elevator.

Edit2: Hrm, I can see how you could use 1m/3' squares and not have unrealistic "OMG cramped" fighting. A Small creature needs one square for combat room, a Medium creature needs 4 squares, and so on. This way you can have those 1m corridors and have them be cramped, though it does make kobold invaders even more annoying; "foolssss, your own corridors hinder you and aid us!"

Brad

 

[danzig138]

Imperial.
Why?
Because I started working on building houses in America when I was quite young, and did so for many years. Never once did my boss say "Hey, can you move that about half a meter to the right?" or "You're two centimeters off."
If it's good enough for American house building*, it's good enough for American D&D.










*Not that I would trust all of the houses we worked on. Stupid quick-rise cheap crap.

 

[arscott]

I'm curious--Does housebuilding use feet and inches, or feet and tenths of feet?

My dad's a civil engineer, and IIRC he usually uses the latter.

 

[withak]

I'm curious--Does housebuilding use feet and inches, or feet and tenths of feet?

My dad's a civil engineer, and IIRC he usually uses the latter.

The former.

 

[Aeolius]

...tenths of feet?

That would be one toe.

 

[arscott]

That would be one toe.

I like it.

I've revised opinion. 4e should use feet, strides, and digits for length.

And pints and jugs for volume, of course.

 

[Scarbonac]

You metric-lovers can measure stuff with your new-fangled Klingons, Starbucks and Centerfolds, but for me its Imperial all the way! The metric system is a tool of Asmodeus! My dragon gets forty rods to the hogshead and thats the way I likes it!

 

[Orius]

You metric-lovers can measure stuff with your new-fangled Klingons, Starbucks and Centerfolds, but for me its Imperial all the way! The metric system is a tool of Asmodeus! My dragon gets forty rods to the hogshead and thats the way I likes it!

Metric uses centerfolds? Well, there's one LESS reason for me to use Imperial.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Depends on what you're trying to model. It does make corridors incredibly narrow and requires people passing each other to be very friendly.

Most office building corridors I've ever been in were about a metre across.

My point was that a square meter sounds about right for space you can control with a dagger or your own fists - about the smallest weapon possible.

Actually, the real reason for it? I play with Australians (and my American wife, but we live here), and I'm a little tired of saying "about twenty feet down the corridor you see a door." If we're working in square increments, four squares = four metres will do me.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Imperial.
Why?
Because I started working on building houses in America when I was quite young, and did so for many years. Never once did my boss say "Hey, can you move that about half a meter to the right?" or "You're two centimeters off."
If it's good enough for American house building*, it's good enough for American D&D.


*Not that I would trust all of the houses we worked on. Stupid quick-rise cheap crap.

Hmm. I am not sure if American house building is enough for me. I always see these houses blown away in TV shows and the news. I prefer German house building, and that uses the metric system.
So, if there was a German D&D, it should use the metric system.

In a way, Das Schwarze Auge / The Black Eye / DSA is the German D&D. And (as I told already) they use archaic (or archaic sounding) names for metric units. See - we can have our cake and keep it!

Spoiler

Now, if the system could also stand up against D&D 3E or 4E in playability...