Imperial or Metric?

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Edit - and make sure to have all kinds of different currencies.

I actually used to do that. Differing by nation, different ratios, sizes, exchange rates, and even tossed in that one large nation had a significant revaluation in recent memory, so that there was pre-4445 currency and post-4445 currency. Ditched that in 2003, figured that was way too much bookkeeping on the players.

Now it's just 24 copper obs (more commonly denominated into 3-ob "bits," since it's not economic to mint an ob) = 1 silver sinver, 25 sinvers = 1 golden sovereign, the end.
 
ddtmuj9-3122ec57-a757-44ab-826e-368938d5ee81.jpg
3BC17F96-0DF1-442A-BAD2-B8DC2730DD11.jpeg
 
What version of Traveller? Classic Traveller has always been metric, though the 1.5m square is awfully conveniently close to 5' (3m is 9.84 feet, i.e. less than 2% off).
GURPS: Traveller insisted on using Imperial measurements. I thought it was actually quite unfaithful to the original.
 
I just use whatever system most of my players are familiar with. If they are American's I'll use Imperial, and I'll use metric otherwise. If I am giving measurements to players, it is more likely to be an attempt to give them information more than to add flavor. Making players to conversions in their head is going to throw them out of the game faster than using measurement system that isn't setting appropriate.

Generally, I tend to discuss measurements in more descriptive terms anyway.
 
I'm in the UK and I rarely see Metric unless I'm looking at nuts and bolts and even then its sometimes imperial. Its Miles on all the road signs and I think in feet and yards. I'm that used to seeing Imperial in fantasy games that I would find it very odd to have Metric units being used for distance.
 
I'd just as soon use metric for actual measurements.
In game flavor can be added by whatever the locals use... grogs or dipniks or wazoodles.
 
A wrote a piece for one of my games where spaces and rounds were in-universe measurements. People didn't like it. I don't think I have it anymore. If I do, I'll post it.

"among the beautiful creatures" used lengths based on the rate of the expanses' progress away from the beginning and towards the end. Base on how long it took the shadow of a stick of a fixed length to double. After the destruction of the expanse, the refugees that escaped through The Gates of Tallow measured time by the steady lashes applied to their leader, The Prophet of the Deeps. I was in a weird mood when I wrote that stuff.
 
It still does because world sized x 1000 = diameter in miles.
True, but the table (at least in 1981, The Traveller Book, and Starter Traveller) lists the sizes in km. But yea, they are tied to 1000xsize code in miles...
 
I want to thank everyone for responding. You were all very helpful. The result seems to be what I expected.
I will use authentic period units of measure.
An aside to those who claimed there no truly standard medieval measures, they were pretty evenly mixed between those that were standard kingdom-wide and those that were influenced by local tradition, but likely much more standard than you think, at least in England. I don't know about the Continent, not my bailiwick ;)
 
I'm Canadian, so a weird mix of both!

I'm 5'11" tall and 140lbs.
Vancouver is 400km away.
I also need two sets of sockets and wrenches...it's annoying...
 
I wonder if Coyote and Crow will use the Mayan vigesimal system or the decimal system?
 
My rule of thumb is:

Imperial for Fantasy/Medieval games

Metric for Sci-fi.

This is great because for the purposes of gameplay, Yards and Meters can be treated as interchangeable (even though in real life they aren't.)
 
I am in the process of writing a medieval fantasy product and I was wondering whether I should quote imperial measures still in general use in the US (which came from those used from the medieval period until England adopted the metric system generally in 1965) with metric translations or save myself the trouble of providing metric translations, as well. (England is the cultural frame of reference)
What are your thoughts?
If set in England, would likely use Imperial, maybe even include the weight measure of stones for flavor. In most cases I'd also provide the metric measure. Such as 5'(1.5m) or 224lb (100kg), then have a clear and clean conversion page for the old timey stuff like 1 Stone = ?, and some simple metric to imperial, and imperial to metric stuff, although any one with internet access can get instant conversion.

Personally I have no problem going between the two, being raised in the US and being a scientist for decades, I can even do the °F to °C conversion. :smile:

Temperature is one where a simple chart could help people only familiar with one system.
 
Although for money I'd just use pounds, shillings and pence and not bother going for full accuracy.
I prefer to use the kroon, a double decentralized currency that allows you to become your own central bank and shave off a portion of your kroon to establish your own standard and be the arbiter of your own currency, I call these portions BitKroon :smile:

see https://www.missiontozyxx.space/season1/112 all is explained :smile: around 18:00 and fulsome example starting around 24:45
 
Last edited:
Although for money I'd just use pounds, shillings and pence and not bother going for full accuracy.
Except that, insofar as they were the standard monies "of account" used for tracking money in ledgers, there is absolutely no problem with it. You can actually use it in tandem with a variety of coinage, or not. It works equally well either way. One is merely more flavorful than the other (and something fun for characters traveling abroad to tussle with, at least for me. :smile:
 
Personally I prefer metric in all games. Living is Australia and being born post metric adoption I have a lot of trouble thinking in imperial units.

To be honest I am lousy at distances and weights at the best of times :smile: BUT at least with metric I can think about real work distances or weights I know. Like I live 750 meters form the station, so a kilometre is a bit further, or an average car is about 1.5 tons. It gives my mind a starting point. With imperial it may as well be a different language.

I also get VERY excited everytime an RPG is in metric.

Also given the international spread of RPGs I do wonder if catering to metric is a big issue?
 
Personally I prefer metric in all games. Living is Australia and being born post metric adoption I have a lot of trouble thinking in imperial units.

To be honest I am lousy at distances and weights at the best of times :smile: BUT at least with metric I can think about real work distances or weights I know. Like I live 750 meters form the station, so a kilometre is a bit further, or an average car is about 1.5 tons. It gives my mind a starting point. With imperial it may as well be a different language.

I also get VERY excited everytime an RPG is in metric.

Also given the international spread of RPGs I do wonder if catering to metric is a big issue?
Metric isn't all that popular here in the US in my experience. We use imperial, primarily. Personally, I've never had to deal with metric much, at all, ever. When I do, I just look up a converter on my phone. It's that seldom. The product I'm working on is for the US market, first. Great many posts here were cool with foregoing it. Gratified not having to deal with it.
 
Personally I prefer metric in all games. Living is Australia and being born post metric adoption I have a lot of trouble thinking in imperial units.

To be honest I am lousy at distances and weights at the best of times :smile: BUT at least with metric I can think about real work distances or weights I know. Like I live 750 meters form the station, so a kilometre is a bit further, or an average car is about 1.5 tons. It gives my mind a starting point. With imperial it may as well be a different language.

I also get VERY excited everytime an RPG is in metric.

Also given the international spread of RPGs I do wonder if catering to metric is a big issue?
Yeah, me too. It's not that I can't think in imperial, it's easy. I just don't see the point.
And frankly, basing the system off the imperial measures is my biggest gripe with GURPS...:grin:

But then I don't leave in the US, so I'm not really the target audience for @gentlemanbear:thumbsup:.
 
Last edited:
Yeah I would not say imperial is a deal breaker for me (hell most RPGs are not metric) BUT if i was on the fence about the game it may tip me over, especially if it is modern or future.
 
Yeah I would not say imperial is a deal breaker for me (hell most RPGs are not metric) BUT if i was on the fence about the game it may tip me over, especially if it is modern or future.
Yeah, exactly - in my case, I've got enough systems that basically do what GURPS does, and are already in the more convenient metric. So although I still like GURPS, I see no reason to put up with it when picking what to run:smile:.
If someone else is running it, of course, I would play, assuming I like the campaign - GURPS Dungeon Fantasy might be a bit of a hard sell:wink:.
But then again, gentlemanbear was clear enough that he is looking strictly/mostly at the US market. Which is an understandable decision, every game has its niche, so I can also wish him luck in capturing a part of the intended market:thumbsup:!
 
Yeah, exactly - in my case, I've got enough systems that basically do what GURPS does, and are already in the more convenient metric. So although I still like GURPS, I see no reason to put up with it when picking what to run:smile:.
If someone else is running it, of course, I would play, assuming I like the campaign - GURPS Dungeon Fantasy might be a bit of a hard sell:wink:.
But then again, gentlemanbear was clear enough that he is looking strictly/mostly at the US market. Which is an understandable decision, every game has its niche, so I can also wish him luck in capturing a part of the intended market:thumbsup:!

Ohh 100% on both counts. You definitely need to write to your audience. far too many games try to be everything for everyone and it often falls flat.

For me I kept grabbing or getting given GURPS books that in the end I though I may as well get the core rules and two companions as I had nearly everything else :smile:
 
Ohh 100% on both counts. You definitely need to write to your audience. far too many games try to be everything for everyone and it often falls flat.

For me I kept grabbing or getting given GURPS books that in the end I though I may as well get the core rules and two companions as I had nearly everything else :smile:
Alas, nobody gives me free GURPS books, or I'd have done as you did:grin:!
 
Alas, nobody gives me free GURPS books, or I'd have done as you did:grin:!

For a good while in Sydney every convention game seemed to have GURPS books as prizes - even though most were not even GURPS games :smile:
 
I'm in the UK and I rarely see Metric unless I'm looking at nuts and bolts and even then its sometimes imperial. Its Miles on all the road signs and I think in feet and yards. I'm that used to seeing Imperial in fantasy games that I would find it very odd to have Metric units being used for distance.

It's all true. Metric is used here and there, but most Brits still think in feet, inches, miles, and pints.

Metric measurements in a fantasy game will make my eye twitch. I can accept them in sc-fi. It might be a reason I've never given up on Palladium Books, since they provide both measurements.
 
Temperature is one where a simple chart could help people only familiar with one system.

Yeah; it is also a type of measurement where people nowadays have a real 'feel' for the meaning of specific figures. To say that the temperature is in the mid-70s F tells people something, if they are used to that system; but may have no resonance at all for people used to Celsius--unless they convert it.

Of course, in a pseudo-medieval fantasy setting, there is really no need to specify temperatures beyond vague markers like 'hot,' 'very hot,' etc. since they were not really measured then. Thermometers, or something like them, are products of the 16th-17th centuries, AFAIK.
 
Yeah; it is also a type of measurement where people nowadays have a real 'feel' for the meaning of specific figures. To say that the temperature is in the mid-70s F tells people something, if they are used to that system; but may have no resonance at all for people used to Celsius--unless they convert it.

Of course, in a pseudo-medieval fantasy setting, there is really no need to specify temperatures beyond vague markers like 'hot,' 'very hot,' etc. since they were not really measured then. Thermometers, or something like them, are products of the 16th-17th centuries, AFAIK.
I like to give temperatures so people have a feel for it.

Your right though you say 70 °F to me and have a feel for it, say 18 °C and I have less of one and would have to convert to know if to wear a long sleeve or short sleeve shirt, but do know that STP being 25 °C is about 72 °C....yet then there is all my science informed temps as I have a very good "feel" for -77 °C and 60 °C (the latter is something that is too hot to touch, but won't necessarily give you a first degree burn if you move you finger quick enough).

I like to give temperatures for hot areas, especially ones that require protection, any one who cooks will know the difference between 325 °F and 450 °F...one will merely cook you, the other broil :smile:

In my own game rules, even for myself, I put down imperial and metric. Metric is best for calculation (digital), imperial is good for by eye (analog) actual division of goods as 16 can readily be divided by 2, 4, or 8, 12 can be divided by easily into 2, 3, 4, and 6. etc.

Imperial units are also great for the day to day, as 1 bushel is pretty much one person/month of food, 1 acre how much land a person can plow with a team of oxen in a day, so 30 acres about what you can do during the plowing season. Etc. When working up a medieval economy basics form the ground up years ago, it becomes very apparent the units were chosen for ease of calculation in things that mattered, like how many days of food is that, how many days of work.

For a commercial product I'd ask myself....how much extra work is it to really do the conversion for people...especially in places where it is most useful?
I see it as a form of providing a service for your customers. Can't see how it hurts and certainly may help get you a sale with those who use different units.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top