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Googled through the forums and couldn't find any topics on it, and as an European i am almost obliged by law to mention it :D

The question is, what sort of measurements might we expect to find in 4E? in my opinion there are three options,

• A. imperial
  
• B. metric
  
• C. both
  
• D. Squares/generic units (new option)
  

A is probably the most likely choice, since its an American game and America is one of the 3 remaining countries in the world who has not officially gone over to metric yet(along with Liberia and Myanmar). And since i don't have any market data which proves that the US is the biggest market for d&d i can assume thats where they are making most of their money(though i bet Europe is a close second).

B would have been very nice, but i cannot imagine the amount of angry Americans that it would have spawned. Then again, if we are to believe in some stereotypes, most D&D players might be the type that organizes groups and meetings for metric in universities.

C is a good compromise in my opinion, though it might cause more room to be spent. but WotC have said that the design of the new books will be more open than the last ones, so there might be room to squeeze it in. Then again, it can clutter up the design alot when every time movement is mentioned, you need to write 5f/2m or 1mile/1.609KM.


personally i could go for both B and C, but i am not the majority, so it would be interesting to hear people's opinions on this topic...


edit: as D, squares, has been added, i probably have to say something about that as well. basically if everything in the new 4e books uses squares as the generic measurement of anything range-related in combat, people could use whatever measurement they feel like on these squares and it wouldn't be a problem. dragons fire breath has 12 squares range? thats 24 meters or 60 feet. fighter usually moves 6 squares, but with armor he would only move 4. wizards magic missile can reach out to 5-6 squares if he is very low-lvl.

it would also make the game easier to play on a battlemap, as you would not need to recalculate ranges before you start moving around the map. i think this might be the best option as of yet.

Let me take you back to GenCon in 1988. In a seminar hall Jon Pickens and Dave Cook are answering questions about the upcoming 2nd edition of AD&D. Dave has just been talking about how they are getting rid of the strange scale inches for movement distances and will be using real measurements.

Suddenly a lone european asks the unthinkable - "Will you be using meters then?". Shocked silence. Every head is turned to see who this heretic is. Jon Pickens laughs it off and everything returns to normal.

Even now, nineteen years later, I'm afraid your question will get a similar response as mine got then.

hehe, since i was only 3 years old at that time i guess i missed that opportunity. i believe though that people are a bit more aware and neutral towards metric now than what they were back then.

one thing that might work for us though is the Star-Wars rpg's, as i think that they have been in metric for a while. maybe they used that to measure how the fans would react to it if implemented in 4e?

duke_Qa wrote:

hehe, since i was only 3 years old at that time i guess i missed that opportunity. i believe though that people are a bit more aware and neutral towards metric now than what they were back then.

one thing that might work for us though is the Star-Wars rpg's, as i think that they have been in metric for a while. maybe they used that to measure how the fans would react to it if implemented in 4e?

If the U.S. ever converts to the metric system officially, I'd love for the game to use metrics. Until then, I am quite content with our "Imperial" measurements: feet and inches and pounds, oh my.