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kunadam wrote:

They used metric in the Modern and SW games. It is a feel for the futuristic.

Old imperial is OK as far as pounds and feets goes. But please!!!! Get rid of Farenheit!!! That is nearly impossible to convert on the fly.

9/5+32 isn't exactly what I'd call a massive challenge, but I agree that it is one of the sillier conversions. =/

I still think Kelvins are the most appropriate, however. Absolute zero at zero, instead of at -273, makes much more sense to me. It's just a lot more intuitive.

Nox_Noctis wrote:

I use the "find all" function all the time for stuff like that. Like I said, it's very tedious, but it's not difficult.

As for the U.S. not using the metric system: who cares? If it didn't impact you(let us assume they do print two books, and stay within D&D[ignoring other instances where our units of measurement apply]), does it really matter? The answer is likely no, and if it's yes, you simply care too much, to be honest. The fact that the vast majority of people that do care only care because they think it causes them problems is hardly the fault of the U.S.

We don't whine(and I'm not saying you are) about the metric system being used when it is, and we certainly don't ask the rest of the world to convert to the imperial system. The fact that the rest of the world sees our system as outdated/inferior/what-have-you is simply a case of ego-centrism(I realize that many cultures use metrics, but it is still a feeling of cultural superiority, even if it's a shared culture).

As for the producer thinking that, if he thinks that(as it is worded currently), then perhaps there is an opportunity lost. What isn't nonsensical, however, is for a producer to think, "my customer in the U.S. expects my product I am selling in the U.S. to use U.S. measurements." I made the customer specific to the nation(as opposed to a generic customer that could be of any nation) and the product non-specific in origin(goods made in China or Mexico that are printed in English/other languages, anyone?), and removed "conform" because it is hypocritical to say we are forcing people to conform when you specifically are opposed to our measurement system anyway and would like to see us adopt metrics.

This still leaves room for goods that are not sold in the U.S. normally, but are sold on the secondary market. These goods obviously are not intended for a U.S. audience, and should not be expected to use the imperial system.

Considering that WotC is not very likely to publish two books, I do care. And with good reason.

However, even if they did, I still worry about the US not making any effort to adopt the metric system. When you say "we don't expect the rest of the world to convert to the imperial system" you do realize that the US was one of the seventeen original signatory nations of the Convention du Mètre in 1875? The SI (a.k.a the metric system) is the international standard governed by ISO. It is not ego-centrism to regard you as a holdout when almost every other nation in the world has abandoned their national systems (we scrapped our old non-metric system in 1883) and switched. It's not that many cultures use metric - it's that all other cultures have given up on their cultural uniqueness on this point, but the US hasn't.

Oldtimer wrote:

it's that all other cultures have given up on their cultural uniqueness on this point, but the US hasn't.

That's just bitterness and silliness, right there. That's not a logical reason to change. That's just saying, "we changed, so you should too!"

I'd really have respected your argument more if you had stuck with, "[...] many cultures use metric." As it is, you give no concrete and fundamental reason for us to convert.

Also, read my above post where I reiterated one of my original statements.

Oldtimer wrote:

It's not like the other lemmings are waiting for you to jump off the cliff. Every nation that has changed did it for a good reason - to promote international trade and exchange of ideas.

I love how you mention "exchange of ideas" as if doing away with the imperial system is a direct implementation of that. Now I'll help counter my own argument a little bit: one concept of exchanging ideas is that some ideas are worse, and can be replaced by "better" ones. Now I'm going to show why that perspective isn't necessarily right(or even applicable).

You can't define a "better" measurement system. Measurement systems are just relative definitions.

Also, it's not even truly applicable in this case since you can't say that the metric system was meant to promote exchange of ideas, and thus, by extension, was meant to replace something with itself. Who is to say that the imperial system could not do the same thing if more people 'got on board' with it? This goes back to my first point: they both serve the same function. Neither is inherently better than the other.

Now that I've offered my logic, offered the opposing logic, and refuted said opposing logic, please continue.