Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

In the full RPG, you can use the rationale that the Mnoren used metric, therefore their world uses metric.

In the arena game, I'm not sure you need to go much deeper than one hex equals one hex, and one turn equals one turn.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

Many miniature games use 1 inch = 100 meters, no big deal. Ground scale is different to model scale too. Most of the time ground scale is irrelevant as you are playing the game, so everything is game related, everything in inches.

Now, for TFT, I think changing it to yards and pounds is sensible to accommodate the majority of the current player base, now metric is used everywhere else, not just Europe, that is also good to have in mind. Still most players will be from USA, so changing may be a good idea.

But change always have a cost, and in some places you will end with measurements in meters needing errata.

That said, I think most players in metric countries will not mind using the archaic measures (as most use them already in other games) meanwhile USA players will be more alienated by the use of metric, in general.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

Well, A Fistful of TOWs 3 is a Gold seller on Wargame Vault; (don't know the Lulu rank for physical books). The earlier versions of the game have been popular with modern wargamers since the late 1990s.

So the the use of dual measurement systems doesn't seem to have hurt sales.

And your solution doesn't really reflect how the game is played. Short range is determined as 1/2 of effective range. Long range is 1.5 x effective range. And no pre-measuring is allowed. Therefore, calculating and eyeballing distance is something players do. As noted, it's easier to multiply 12 by .5 or 1.5 than it is to multiply 25.4 or 25 by .5 or 1.5.

At the end of the day, you haven't really articulated why it is a better idea to use the metric system for a game mostly played by Americans. But you seem to want to do so really badly.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

<shrug> It's a common approach in miniature wargames. And presumably, it's done for the same reason I did - inches are a little easier to use in calculations and American wargamers, at least, are far more familiar with inches than centimeters. Meters are the common way militaries express ranges (and this is carried over into most reference works).

And as noted above, figure scales and ground scales are almost always different in miniature games. FFT, for instance, is designed to be played with 6mm or 1/285 miniatures. A matching ground scale would be 1" = 9.35 meters. With tactical weapons systems ranging as far as 4000m or so, I think you can see the practical problems inherent in using that scale.

So...I'm not sure what the big deal is.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

It's not better. It's just completely irrelevant. The fundamental unit of measure in TFT is the hex.

I've run into RPGs that used the unit of measure "m/y" -- meaning it's either a meter or a yard -- with zero conversion, because in the end all that matters is hexes on the map, and at the resolution of usable maps, the difference between a meter and a yard does not matter.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

I like sticking with metric. It just feels right for Melee, TFT, etc.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

At the end of the day, I don't suppose it really matters WHAT measuring system you use, as long as you are consistent in its use. If your group wants to play that one hex equals a meter, and my group wants to play that one hex equals a yard, it's going to be just fine for each of our groups.

The real issues always crop up when someone insists on analyzing everything for "realism's" sake. If you can avoid that sort of rules lawyering, then the actual total number of inches/centimeters covered in a 42 hex bow-shot really do nothing to add to the game. Hitting someone at 42 hexes is a good (or lucky) shot in TFT, and that's all that really matters.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

Kinda hard to calculate weight in “hexes”, isn’t it? And when getting directions to the Mad Wizard’s Citadel of Doom, things like miles come in handy.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

For weight, what matters is how it compares to the encumbrance rules, and that just requires the equipment chart and the encumbrance rules to use the same units. Similarly, for long distance travel, what matters is comparing the distance to the overland movement rules (because what I really care about is travel time), and again, all that's required is for the map and the movement rules to be the same. Not to mention the possibility that overland movement is measured in hexes.

Re: Metric? Keep or change?
 

Metric for TFT.

(And, later, for GURPS 5e. : )