vivsavage Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Fantasy Hero recommends not using the metric system, yet it still gives its measurements using metrics. Just wondering...why? And when the rules refer to inches (") are we supposed to assume it means 2 meters or 2 yards or 6.5 feet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? In what context, vivsavage? Can you please refer to a page or chapter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayoman Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Yes. I tried explaining to a friend about 1" equals 1 hex which equals 6.5 feet. He could not get past the fact that when you said, "My energy blast has a range of 150" that it really meant 975 feet or 325 yds. He was thinking REAL inches. Just wondering...why? And when the rules refer to inches (") are we supposed to assume it means 2 meters or 2 yards or 6.5 feet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Yes. I tried explaining to a friend about 1" equals 1 hex which equals 6.5 feet. He could not get past the fact that when you said, "My energy blast has a range of 150" that it really meant 975 feet or 325 yds. He was thinking REAL inches. In cases like this, where a newbie is confused by game inches and real inches, you should refer instead to game HEXES and real inches.... In re: vivsavage's question, as long as you're across the board with it, it doesn't matter if you set the default hex as one mile. Personally, I feel that meters doesn't carry any sort of fantasy feel. Resizing the default hex to 2 yards doesn't change much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivsavage Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Resizing the default hex to 2 yards doesn't change much. Yeah, that's what I mean. It puzzles me that Fantasy Hero gives weights and measurements in metrics, given that Steven Long says fantasy hero games shouldn't use them...Does Steve suggest saying "2 yards" or "6.5 feet" when GMing FH? What do other GMs do when referring to weights and measurements to their players? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivsavage Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? In what context' date=' vivsavage? Can you please refer to a page or chapter?[/quote'] I'll be darned but I can't find it! I know that somewhere Steven Long says the metric system doesn't suit fantasy settings (I agree). Maybe it's in the genre-by-genre document? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivsavage Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? as long as you're across the board with it' date=' it doesn't matter if you set the default hex as one mile.[/quote'] Right, but I was concerned with the "meaning" of, for instance, a character's move rating. If someone is moving 4 hexes...is that 8 meters, 8 yards, or 26 feet? Or should hexes be "rounded" to 5 feet per hex? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvoncannon Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Speed is the number of actions the character gets. As for movement (run), that is the number of hexes the character can go. I use Metrics for my Fantasy game. 1 Hex = 2 Meters. I give ranges in Hex and then convert (multiply by 2) for description. If you use 1" hex, then all you have to do is multiply your numbers by 2 (2.2 to be more exact) to convert to metric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivsavage Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Speed is the number of actions the character gets. Woops! You're right. If you use 1" hex' date=' then all you have to do is multiply your numbers by 2 (2.2 to be more exact) to convert to metric.[/quote'] Yeah, but my thing is that I don't want to use metrics -- I feel it doesn't suit the flavor of a fantasy settig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Right' date=' but I was concerned with the "meaning" of, for instance, a character's move rating. If someone is moving 4 hexes...is that 8 meters, 8 yards, or 26 feet? Or should hexes be "rounded" to 5 feet per hex?[/quote'] Like I said, resize the hexes however you see fit. If 5 feet per hex makes more sense to you, then go for it. The only problem (and it's a minor one) is that published materials won't agree with your measurements, ie a dragon 8 hexes long will be described as being over 50 feet, whereas your measurements will have it at 40. No big deal, unless you really really want to stress over that, and worry that a dragon ten feet shorter would have to have a reduced strength, etc, in which case I'd suggest you get some therapy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? I'd just say 1 hex=2 yards. It's close enough. Heck, for interiors, I often use 1 hex=1meter. It allows you to be more tactical, and fit more miniatures into a space. It almost never matters what the actual scale is. Ranges/Movement/Area of effect all remain the same: 1 hex=1 hex. Of course,if your scenario calls for a highly detailed treatment of a specific sized thing (i.e. the dragon mentioned above) just go for 1 hex=2 meters. Your characters are never going to worry about it. They just want to know how many hexes away something is and can the hit it with something sharp. Keith "working for scale" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Yeah' date=' but my thing is that I don't want to use metrics -- I feel it doesn't suit the flavor of a fantasy settig.[/quote'] In one Fantasy Hero game that I ran, I made the local measurements work out to be Hexes and gave it a strange fantasy name like Gawms. The only hard part was deciding that a room was roughly 1 1/3 Gawms (8 feet) tall. For long distances, I used the "days travel" which was a horrible imprecise measurement, since everyone traveled at different speeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? I'd just say 1 hex=2 yards. It's close enough. Heck, for interiors, I often use 1 hex=1meter. It allows you to be more tactical, and fit more miniatures into a space. It almost never matters what the actual scale is. Ranges/Movement/Area of effect all remain the same: 1 hex=1 hex. I always thought it was strange that AD&D had ranges and areas that were feet indoors and yards outside, it was like the spells got three times bigger outdoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? And had three times the range when outdoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citizen Keen Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? HERO is a generic system. Everything is universal. The Wealth Perk gives wealth in American dollars, and that's not even right for us playing over here in the UK. The whole idea is that one campaign easily translates to another. Everything in Fantasy HERO is in metres because everything in HERO is in metres. Just like in FH they show the creation of a new Time Chart (to suit FH more), I'm sure you could create new distance measurements easily. I am for my new FH campaign. To find out whether Steve puts his money where his mouth is, look to see if the Turakian Age uses metres or another kind of measurement. Just my dos centavos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yesman Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? I think someone once pointed out that a fathom is roughly 6.5 feet. It makes a handy replacement for inches and hexes at the gaming table. Or paces (5 feet) are close enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? I think someone once pointed out that a fathom is roughly 6.5 feet. It makes a handy replacement for inches and hexes at the gaming table. Or paces (5 feet) are close enough. Holy jumpin' Jehosaphat! You have a five foot stride? I fear you mightily, Longshanks. Also a fathom is exactly six feet (1.83 meters). Originally, in practice, it was the distance of a man's outspread hands, easily counted when pulling up a sounding line. Keith "Nit-pickin' bastitch" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? I always thought it was strange that AD&D had ranges and areas that were feet indoors and yards outside' date=' it was like the spells got three times bigger outdoors.[/quote'] I used to think that was weird, too. Then I played one too many games with miniatures crowded into a tiny scale room. There were so few hexes, there was no real point in mapping it. Everywhere is a half move and there's no room to get around everything. A moderately-filled tavern has more than one person per hex. Ditto for folks sitting around a table (2 1/2 per hex on the average.) On the other hand, to be consistent, when I do Hero maps for publication, I rigorously follow the standard scale whenever possible. So go fig. Keith "there's not enough room in this hex for both of us, pardner!" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Here's the thing. When you're roleplaying, assume that your characters think and speak in whatever units of measurement they're comfortable with -- probably miles, feet, pounds, etc., unless either the GM has measurements specific to his campaign world (plausible) or unless he wants to use things like fathoms, leagues, and so on. However, when you're running combats or otherwise playing the Hero System, use Hero System measurements. I'm not certain how often discussion of miles, feet, or pounds are necessary during combat ("Phase 12. How many miles to Chicago, again?") but if it comes up, approximate. A kilogram is approximately two pounds, a hex is approximately six feet. In my old game group, when we'd play Fantasy Hero regularly we wrote out our characters' heights and weights in feet and pounds, and when we roleplayed we talked in feet and pounds. But we used kilograms and meters and hexes for figuring out how much we could lift with our STR or how far we could move in a Phase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? ditto. Keith "what he said" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Just change the name meter to length, Shord or some other fantasy-esque name. I've played fantasy games a long time, in character personal distances rarely come up, so when they do, just change the word, not the actual distance. As for long distances, we alwasy use time of travel, ussually in days or months, that gives the GM a great deal of latitude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage Posted June 3, 2004 Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? just use a meter, metrics are way better than the imperial system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trencher Posted June 3, 2004 Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Me too. what is an "inch" anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? I'd give you one, Trencher, but you'd take a mile. That said, I support the idea that the reason game supplements are in real-world measurements (assuming it's not a game that takes place in the real world or a facsimile thereof) is simply to spare the players and gamemaster for having to make conversions from imaginary units to things they understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trencher Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Re: Meters or yards or feet? Funny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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