8 by 11 book size

[Pattern Ghost]

[QUOTE=JMcL63] One hex could be one metre, and so on.[QUOTE]

One hex represents 2 meters already. The inches come in because one hex = one inch in real life on a standard hex map. That's 25mm.

[JMcL63]

Hmm. It seems that my point is causing some confusion. I understand fully how the 1"= 1 hex= 2 metres scale works in HERO. I just don't like it very much. I think it is awkward to have to shift backwards and forwards from metres (ie. distances as we would consider them in real life) to inches (ie. those same distances as considered in HERO combat). I wish HERO could be rejigged so that all references to distance in the rules were in real world measures rather than in measures derived from the size of hexes on hex maps used for playing out combat (I don't use minis for roleplaying anyway). I feel that there would be several advantages to this, the first of which would be neatness and simplicity. That's it really. My original remark was just intended as an aside, I didn't expect it to drag this thread OT the way it has.

[Pattern Ghost]

You'd have to shift between meters and centimeters anyway, though. Or millimeters. Unless you have a reaaaaaaally big battle mat, if you're using minis. =) Otherwise, there's nothing preventing you from re-writing inches as meters. You don't have to do anything but multiply by two to do it, since it's scaling and not converting. Instead of writing 12" on your character sheet, write 24 meters. A lot of people do use the hex maps and you can't please both crowds.

[Teflon Billy]

No, the metric meter is very arbitrary. It's based on two random scratches on a platinum/irridium rod which was ascribed to be one ten millionth the distance between the north pole and a meridian running through Paris to the equator. I say random because it was an ideal meridian as the original measurement for the meter didn't take into account the flattening of the earth at the poles do to centripetal force causing the equator to buldge. Just because they've redefined the most accurate way of measuring a meter to equal the period of time that a photon of light travels most closely the length of one meter doesn't make it any more or less arbitrary.

My point with regards to the light nano-second was that it would simplify a constant (in this case c) to something very simple 10^9 quasi-feet/sec instead of 299,792,458 m/sec. While I admit the second is arbitrary, you might as well start somewhere. I have seen a web-site that advocates using plank's constant as the fundemental building block of the entire measuring system. But that's a little more extreme than I'd be willing to go ;-)

The bigger point was not that setting the fundemental measurement of length in the measurment system equal to 1 light-nanosecond had any real benefit, other than the afor mentioned symplification of the constant for the speed of light. I was focusing more on the repeated ignoring of significant capital outlays that would be required to retool the entire country to a new measuring system, and that the keeping of Imperial Standard measure is not some sort of backwards contrarienism on the part of we Americans.

A big portion may very well be "if it's not broke, don't fix it" type of thinking, but it isn't ignorance as some seem to want to imply.

I used/use the metric system all the time, I was a physics major for 3 years. I hated to have to do those stupid unit conversion problems between slug/pottle to newton/liter (and yes I do know what all four of those measures are:-D). I of course found Metric far more to my liking. But I still can not mentally visualize a kilometer, I think of things in miles.

TB

[Steve Long]

None of this has any relevance to gaming. If you want to discuss the metric system, please take the discussion over to the NGD forum.