This is going to be interesting :-)
Dot for entertainment.
Agree with 8th dwarf.
As far as i know, contries that use imperial system do so out of tradition but it is surely more easy for metric-users to convert a few feet to meters during a game session that for the entire contry to convert their entire lifestyle.
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Not sure how many know about this, but apparently in the late 60s or early 70s, there was a mandate in the US to switch to the Metric system. Until I moved to Reading, PA in '83, metric was what I was being taught in school, with enough Imperial/US Standard to figure things out.
I don't know why it wasn't enforced more rigorously. Funny thing is, it's been my experience that a bulk of the STEM based jobs deal almost exclusively in the Metric system. It is a much easier system than US Standard.
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The US is approaching the metric system inch by inch.
The US is approaching the metric system inch by inch.
AWESOME!!!
Were getting better even in the northern parts of Kentucky the signs on the interstates now have the distances and speedlimits in both miles and kilometers per hour...its not much but its something.
Also the US military uses the metric system in almost every thing (its where I learned it).
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Old-fashioned units probably work better for fantasy world atmosphere. Replacing 1lb with 500g would be like replacing gold pieces with Euros.
<Takes a 150cm step away to avoid provoking.>
I find it odd that with today's technology it is not possible to simply create a script that identifies and modifies the documents to have metric system values instead of imperial
If you're meaning auto-convert something like a PDF, no we do not have the tech for that. That's a lot more involved than you're probably thinking. They'd basically have to create two completely different PDFs - for every product - and THEN add a script that says "If in US, give this copy; if elsewhere, give that copy" when you click to download.
Before you ask, "But they already alter the PDFs during the personalizing stage! They stamp your name/email on it!" Yeah. That's simple stuff - just stamping a predetermined value on a blank spot on every page. Just pulls it from your profile and stamps it on the page. It doesn't alter anything that's already in the PDF text, and it certainly doesn't erase PDF text and replace it with something different. Again, that's beyond the tech we have available.
Not sure how many know about this, but apparently in the late 60s or early 70s, there was a mandate in the US to switch to the Metric system. Until I moved to Reading, PA in '83, metric was what I was being taught in school, with enough Imperial/US Standard to figure things out.
I don't know why it wasn't enforced more rigorously. Funny thing is, it's been my experience that a bulk of the STEM based jobs deal almost exclusively in the Metric system. It is a much easier system than US Standard.
It got dropped like a hot potato fairly quickly after that, if I recall right, due to some anti-metric press associated with the next presidential election (I want to say Nixon but don't quote me on it), where the candidate used his opponent's support of Metric and "making the US more like Europe" as one of his attacks. It worked pretty well and turned a large part of the populace against the Metric system.
There's a good few reasons not to have two systems, the first of which is avoiding problems when the global audience comes together - either on forums like this, or if playing together (e.g. via virtual tabletop software)
The default for most systems is to use the native measurement system from the publisher's country. Games Workshop, for example, tend to use metric measurements (edit: keep reading, I'm a bit out of date there!) in their wargaming systems as they are UK-based (yes, we have a lot of imperial system holdouts in the UK but officially we've been using metric since around the '70s). Warhammer and it's variants are an exception as they've been around so long it'd just be asking for trouble to change it (the newer Epic system uses cm, and it seems most of their systems nowadays have been switched to a measurement-neutral design) On the other hand, Mongoose went for inches, presumably as a) it's traditional and b) the US was the larger customer base.
Then you're looking at printing and warehousing. Having two of each book printed and stored in the warehouse is going to make it more expensive both for printing and storage, not to mention the complexity of getting the correct book in the correct box for the correct customer. There would inevitably be a lot of mistakes requiring things to be sent back and exchanged because someone didn't notice the little "imperial edition" logo in the corner, or simply because the customer clicked the wrong button when ordering.
On top of all that is the problem of accessories. Do you really want to find out the map tiles you ordered from the US don't line up with the ones you bought in Europe due to the grid squares being one inch instead of 25mm? :) It isn't much of a difference for one square, but by the time you reach the tenth the alignment is going to be an issue.
With all those problems, it's simply not worth having two versions of everything. Just look at the forums, we have enough problems getting everyone to agree what the single version of the rulebook says :D
I imagine there may well be some fiddling required. Metric and Imperial do not match up neatly in all situations, so it may be that a 10 foot measurement is rounded down to a neat 3 metres, but once you have the basis for that sort of decision surely converting Imperial to metric would be simple.
The reason it's not easy to "automate" is, as you point out, that it doesn't match up neatly. I'm pretty sure a 5-foot step is five feet because that's an easy unit to remember, and not because it's critically important that you can move exactly 152.4cm.
Personally (and maybe that's just a matter of experience) I find it pretty straightforward to do the conversion on the fly. Certainly easier than inventing a printed book media that can somehow update itself to its user's preference. ;)
The only time it becomes bothersome, for me, is when the writers have already converted their Imperial measures into some other unit (like Star Wars: SE and maybe D&D 4e?) so not only do I have to mentally translate squares into feet, I then have to convert those feet into something that makes sense.
On a slight aside, I think it's worth noting that in my experience, it usually goes: fantasy RPGs use Imperial measures and Sci-fi RPGs use the Metric system. That has been true for roughly every game I've read.
Maybe most of you can't know this, but in Italy a 5 foot square, or step, has been simplified in a 1,5 meters step/square.
In the end you lose some range/distance moved on the long run, but it is pretty easy to use with the rule system.
It got dropped like a hot potato fairly quickly after that, if I recall right, due to some anti-metric press associated with the next presidential election (I want to say Nixon but don't quote me on it), where the candidate used his opponent's support of Metric and "making the US more like Europe" as one of his attacks. It worked pretty well and turned a large part of the populace against the Metric system.
The US Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act in 1975, with a goal to bring about private and public organizations to switch to the Metric System completely within 10 years. The Carter Administration backed the effort, forming the United States Metric Board in 1977 to coordinate efforts.
Many large businesses generally did not want to change their ways, and most resisted. Most states did as well, although all states included instruction about metric measurements in shool textbooks throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Chronically underfunded, the USMB was never able to make very much progress, despite major public information campaigns.
The Reagan Administration (and the Republican Party as a whole) never embraced the metric system. The USMB was de-funded in 1981, and disbanded the next year. There was even an effort in the early 1990s from several Republican congressmen to enact a Federal ban on using the metric system at all. (The military quietly objected to this, and the GOP backed down.)
Given the current political realities, I don't see any action coming on this front at all in the foreseeable future.
Because it isn't as easy to implement as you keep insisting it is.
"Reject it" all you like, that doesn't stop it being true. It's one thing to go in and stamp a name on a document, it's very much a different thing to go in and change the text based on where the user is downloading the file from. It is not easy. Have you ever made a PDF? Have you ever worked on editing one? It's not a simple task, at all.
Just at the very minimum, such a thing would have to:
> Track down every mention of any measurement in the text. Every single room proportions. Every mention of traveling distance and speed. Every single creature's description of height and weight.
> Track down every mention of movement speed in every statblock, AND every mention of such things that might pop up in creatures' special abilities.
> AND Track down every notation on maps of distance, which sometimes are part of the map image itself and not PDF text - so even if, by some exceptionally-skilled coding, we managed to have someone pull off the first two, such a "replacement script" wouldn't be able to touch these, or even recognize them as imperial or metric. Every single map would have to be redone to have both measurements, if it doesn't already.
THEN, ON TOP OF ALL THAT:
The script would have to - after finding these things - remove them from the text, replace them with ACCURATE calculations in the other system (because if it's not accurate, why waste the time and effort?), pray that doesn't screw up formatting and alignment of text (because if it does, you're going to have a huge mess on your hands, and an illegible document in the replacement spot[s]. Redoing PDF formatting can be HELL.), and repeat ad nauseum for the next bit of info to be changed.
This is not a simple system. This is not something that can be solved with a simple program on the spur of the moment.
The only practical way to do this would be to have multiple variants of every document provided on Paizo, one with Imperial units and one with Metric, and to have a IP Address checker built into the personalization program that checks your location, checks a database to see which version you should get (or have a manual checkbox for you to select which one you want, for benefit of say US players in the military stationed out-of-country or some such), and then proceeds with the personalization.
To do THAT would require a TON of work on the part of the staff and website management crew, work that generally is better spent on other things. And that's the EASY way. Trying to do an automated system like you're suggesting is simply not feasable at this time, if ever.
How many people actually play with others who would use a different version? Wouldn't that be something you simply work out amongst yourselves in your gaming group. Who cares what the gaming group down the street uses?
I can understand the limitations on physical.
But those limitations do NOT apply to virtual. I could purchase the PDF with metric, and then simply take it to a printer and have it printed for me.
What cost is there in publishing then?
Okay, lets look at these two statements.
Lets say you buy a PDF, and opt for metric.
Then you join a group, and they're using printed rulebooks in imperial.
You're now running with two different measurement systems, and have to agree to use the same one. The people with printed rulebooks are unlikely to want to change, IMHO.
So - end result, you all end up using imperial measurements. Now why was it worth having a PDF in metric? :)
I don't understand the opposition to this. I'm not telling you to use metric, I am asking for the metric people to be supported as well!
Unless you have an entirely separate metric edition of the game, they're not going to be supported. People will complain about the PDFs allowing metric but there's no printed version. Then you'll get metric users come to the forums and start asking questions, and get strange looks from the imperial players. Then people will insist on the printed adventures being in metric too and prices will rise to cover it, or they'll just print less adventure modules. Either way, everyone loses.
While you may only be concerned with your gaming group, many of us have a wider concern - that of being able to interact (even if just chatting and not gaming) with other players, worldwide, via the internet.
If people could be trusted to check a little metric option checkbox on their order that includes a statement "I promise not to make a fuss about the products I can't get in metric, or about the fact I either have to convert to feet to participate on the forums or use a segregated metric area", then it's probably not an issue. People can't be trusted, though - the second you give them a "not quite supported option" as a courtesy they'll just complain it isn't as well supported as the mainstream version. Trust me on this.
End of the day it's not that much bother to implement (if we're just talking PDFs), it's far more of a bother to deal with the inevitable complaints afterwards - there'll be far more people complaining if it's done than there are now about it not being done.
In principle, I say it's long past time the entire world just burned every reference to the imperial system, forgot it ever existed, and converted to metric. In practice, that's not likely to happen. If it doesn't happen, then for any product with a worldwide audience it's best to try to standardize on one system for that product, and not make changes for geographic locations with the exception of language translations (and even they have been known to cause all kinds of problems.)
I'm beginning to see, however, just why GW have moved to a more measurement-neutral system. I wouldn't complain if everything was just specified in "units", with a little box on the first page explaining that a unit can either be an inch or 25mm on the tabletop, and represents either 5 feet or 1.5 metres of actual distance. Due to the change with tradition though, it could still be a bad move for the product.
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Don't forget that many of us from non-english speaking countries also use the English versions.
At this point in life I already do automatic conversions from imperial to metric in my head without even thinking, and most issues in the game can be solved with the simple approximations of 1 feet = 0.3 metres and 1 pound = 0.5 kilograms (numbers start getting wonky on the high zones, but isn't usually a problem in most cases), but I really like when books include some sort of conversion (ounces can go die in a corner, though).
One solution I think could work (and that I'd personally enjoy seeing) would be to include a conversion reference page at the end. It starts with the general equivalences of raw measures (feet to metres, pounds to kilograms, miles to kilometres, etc), and then conversions for the most relevant and useful ad hoc measures (in this case, stuff like 5-foot = 1.5 metres, metric versions of the carrying capacity, size categories, and overland movement tables, etc).
It allows you to cover that problem without having to print different versions of the book (plus sneakily advance the metric agenda in the US, mwahahaha).
Mine is the same case as Klaus van der Kroft.
I don't even want an option to switch to metric, me and my players play directly in imperial system, even if we are all metric-thinking.
One solution I think could work (and that I'd personally enjoy seeing) would be to include a conversion reference page at the end. It starts with the general equivalences of raw measurs (feet to metres, pounds to kilograms, miles to kilometres, etc), and then conversions for the most relevant and useful ad hoc measures (in this case, stuff like 5-foot = 1.5 metres, metric versions of the carrying capacity, size categories, and overland flight tables, etc).
I think that's probably the best solution. It avoids doubling up on anything, leaves the defaults in place for the global audience to have a common point of reference, and allows for that page to be downloadable for people that already own the books.
In fact, I forgot earlier to point out that being another issue with metric versions - many people that already own the books/play the game quite likely aren't going to want to change just because another version became available (and I can only imagine the number of arguments between group members it could cause in a lot of cases)
The one complaint I have with that suggestion is that Paizo is already, as is, dealing with wordcount issues and book/page space in their APs. I'm sure anyone who's looked into running an AP and gotten feedback from the writers has come across mention of having to cut things down for sake of wordcount and space, and of course there was the whole discussion regarding ditching the AP Fiction for something else - be it expanded adventure stuff, more maps, more bestiary, or whatever - that there were several comments of why that wouldn't be feasible.
I imagine adding a conversion page to the end of every document would run about the same issues.
And adding a downloadable additional page runs into the general issue of "why make extra work for Paizo for what will likely be zero or very minor profit?" I imagine most people won't want to pay for that kind of add-on, or if they did they wouldn't want to pay much, for the very simple reason of that info being just a Google away. Now sure, some might be willing to cough up a buck or two, less for the info and more for the sake of helping Paizo. But most players will likely just do a quick internet search for one of the many conversion pages available free out there online.
Handy? Certainly. Probably pretty, especially if Paizo makes the effort and expense to put art on it. But will it be a wise business investment? My knee-jerk reaction is no.
But that's the thing; you'd only need the conversion reference page in the Core Rulebook.
Ah, misunderstood, thought it was suggesting adding it to the end of every AP/module/whatever.
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Anyone care to make a page of conversions? You could post it on d20pfsrd or in the Pathfinder community use section of game references as there is a procedure for doing so. link Also, it could be posted in the game aid section (under gamemaster tools) of the Pathfinder database. link
The point being that although the page might not hold the monetary incentive for Paizo to personally expend effort to put up the page online, it could be accomplished by the fanbase and made available to everyone.
Any takers?
The point being that although the page might not hold the monetary incentive for Paizo to personally expend effort to put up the page online, it could be accomplished by the fanbase and made available to everyone.
This IMO is by far the more likely to succeed way to tackle this little problem.
Not I though, I couldn't fill a thimble with what I know of the Metric system without an internet guide.
Anyone care to make a page of conversions? You could post it on d20pfsrd or in the Pathfinder community use section of game references as there is a procedure for doing so. link Also, it could be posted in the game aid section (under gamemaster tools) of the Pathfinder database. link
The point being that although the page might not hold the monetary incentive for Paizo to personally expend effort to put up the page online, it could be accomplished by the fanbase and made available to everyone.
Any takers?
Sure thing! I'll get it done this afternoon.
Chief Technical Officer
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I much prefer a unit based on the length of a dead king's foot than a unit based on the length of the path light travels in a vacuum in 30.66331898849837 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the cesium-133 atomic ground state.
Because that dead king's foot is right around the length of my own foot, but I keep misplacing my cesium-133.
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I much prefer a unit based on the length of a dead king's foot than a unit based on the length of the path light travels in a vacuum in 30.66331898849837 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the cesium-133 atomic ground state.
Because that dead king's foot is right around the length of my own foot, but I keep misplacing my cesium-133.
Ha! But perhaps we metrics have kings with really strange feet.
I'm just giving the final touches to the metric conversion document. Ended up longer than I expected, but I think it covers everything it needs to cover.
I much prefer a unit based on the length of a dead king's foot than a unit based on the length of the path light travels in a vacuum in 30.66331898849837 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the cesium-133 atomic ground state.
Because that dead king's foot is right around the length of my own foot, but I keep misplacing my cesium-133.
Smarty pants!
Really, though- while metric is simple in gradation, imperial has history in the TSR and beyond incarnations of D&D.
Vic knows WAY too much about the specific definitions of meters (I assume that that's what you were referring to, and don't have the patience to fact-check, at the moment), but his logic is fairly solid; a single person's actual foot as a reference is easier to grasp (despite that person's lack of current living existence) than quantum physics.
Just saying.
Well, they only defined the meter like that to create a universal, independently measurable standard. For years they had an official 'meter' somewhere in France intead, IIRC. (The second is similarily defined, and it seems to work just fine for everyone!)
I've never had any trouble with using Imperial for gaming. Granted, I'm Canadian, but using 5 feet = 1.5 meters and 2 lbs = 1 kg is close enough. I've also played Star Wars RPG Saga Edition, where they use a 1.5 m grid rather than 5 ft. There wasn't really any difference except you tracked encumbrance to the 1/10th of a kg. I don't think that true conversions are really that useful for the game, and find that approximations are all you will ever need.
I'm fine with Pathfinder using feet. I don't think it's a big deal.
Alright, got the document finished. I tried to be as exhaustive as possible, while focusing on the most relevant stuff.
Here's the download link (it's a PDF, about 400kb. Host is WeTransfer, pretty safe to use): PFSRD Metric Conversion Guide
I'll see how to add it to the d20pfsrd promptly.
I hope it helps!
I much prefer a unit based on the length of a dead king's foot than a unit based on the length of the path light travels in a vacuum in 30.66331898849837 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the cesium-133 atomic ground state.
Because that dead king's foot is right around the length of my own foot, but I keep misplacing my cesium-133.
Smarty pants!
Really, though- while metric is simple in gradation, imperial has history in the TSR and beyond incarnations of D&D.
Vic knows WAY too much about the specific definitions of meters (I assume that that's what you were referring to, and don't have the patience to fact-check, at the moment), but his logic is fairly solid; a single person's actual foot as a reference is easier to grasp (despite that person's lack of current living existence) than quantum physics.
Just saying.
The thing about metric measures is their standardization: They were created precisely because everyone was making up their own versions of measurements and causing quite a bit of a problem. That way, the Metre was defined in the XVII century as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the North and South poles; the Centimetre as 1/100 of a metre; then the Litre as a volume of liquid inside a 10x10x10cm cube; from there the Kilogram was defined as the weight of said water cube at room temperature. Following that, decimal measures were created for all those, giving way to the Kilometre (1,000 metres), the Millilitre (1/1,000 of a litre), and so on.
Since the whole point was standardization, as time progressed, more universal methods were developed, and thus came the Prototypes (material representations of the measures, such as a metal bar that became THE metre, a metal sphere that became THE kilogram, and so on), which later turned into the more sophisticated methods we use today (such as using the wavelength of light), trying to find the most universal and unchanging reference.
So while the metric system does not have direct correlation to immediately evident things (such as bodyparts, which was usually the basis for measures in most ancient cultures), it has the advantage of being stable, universal, and linearly equivalent.
If people could be trusted to check a little metric option checkbox on their order that includes a statement "I promise not to make a fuss about the products I can't get in metric, or about the fact I either have to convert to feet to participate on the forums or use a segregated metric area", then it's probably not an issue. People can't be trusted, though - the second you give them a "not quite supported option" as a courtesy they'll just complain it isn't as well supported as the mainstream version. Trust me on this.
End of the day it's not that much bother to implement (if we're just talking PDFs), it's far more of a bother to deal with the inevitable complaints afterwards - there'll be far more people complaining if it's done than there are now about it not being done.
Wow, go back and read that last bit. It comes across massively arrogant. At NO point have I attacked your system, all I have said is "this is something that could be done, and why isn't it?" but now you are suggesting that all metric people would "make a fuss".
I apologize if it came across that way, it wasn't intended as that.
I'm not suggesting everyone would make a fuss - just that it's likely the difference would cause enough people to for Paizo to consider it as a possible blocker. If was only one person in a hundred, that's still far more customer complaints than there currently are on the boards about only using a single system.
EDIT:
I used to write software for a company. Often, I'd get user requests to add in a feature that wasn't there, without going via management. Often, I'd answer "sure, but please understand this is an unsupported feature, I'm doing it as a favor to you."
I'd do the extra coding, often in my own time, and get some pleased smiles in return.
Inevitably, a few weeks later, people would start complaining that the new feature didn't work, and that suddenly it was a critical part of their work process, and their manager was going to be calling my manager to demand it got fixed ASAP.
I'd made a rod for my own back. After a couple of years of this, I stopped doing those favors.
The way they'll most likely look at it is this:
1) How big an issue is it? Are people not buying the game because of it? How many complaints do we currently have?
2) How much work is involved in doing it?
3) Are there any possible knock-on effects of doing it? If so, how big are they likely to be, and how much work is involved in addressing those?
I appreciate your position on this, and just want to point out the reasons they may simply say "no" - think of it as giving you the additional problems to address so you can make the suggestion more attractive to them :)
At the end of the day, whether it happens or not probably doesn't affect me one way or the other, but by posting on the forums you're effectively asking for input from the forum population on your idea. Some of that will be, or feel, extremely negative - but that doesn't mean we hate the idea.
I much prefer a unit based on the length of a dead king's foot than a unit based on the length of the path light travels in a vacuum in 30.66331898849837 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the cesium-133 atomic ground state.
Because that dead king's foot is right around the length of my own foot, but I keep misplacing my cesium-133.
Smarty pants!
Really, though- while metric is simple in gradation, imperial has history in the TSR and beyond incarnations of D&D.
Vic knows WAY too much about the specific definitions of meters (I assume that that's what you were referring to, and don't have the patience to fact-check, at the moment), but his logic is fairly solid; a single person's actual foot as a reference is easier to grasp (despite that person's lack of current living existence) than quantum physics.
Just saying.
The thing about metric measures is their standardization: They were created precisely because everyone was making up their own versions of measurements and causing quite a bit of a problem. That way, the Metre was defined in the XVII century as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the North and South poles; the Centimetre as 1/100 of a metre; then the Litre as a volume of liquid inside a 10x10x10cm cube; from there the Kilogram was defined as the weight of said water cube at room temperature. Following that, decimal measures were created for all those, giving way to the Kilometre (1,000 metres), the Millilitre (1/1,000 of a litre), and so on.
Since the whole point was standardization, as time progressed, more universal methods were developed, and thus came the Prototypes (material representations of the measures, such as a metal bar that became THE metre, a metal sphere that became THE kilogram, and so on), which later turned into the more sophisticated methods we use today (such as using the wavelength of light), trying to find the most universal and unchanging...
Even having a unit of measure based on one ten millionth of the distance between the poles is largely abstract to anyone who doesn't grasp the size of Earth very well (myself included, though I'm moderately versed in trans-Atlantic flights).
Most people have feet. Even those who have the misfortune of being born without feet or have had their feet removed at least know people with feet.
Now, I absolutely believe that the metric system makes way more sense than the imperial system, but, having grown up in an imperial-dominant society, I don't know what the rest of the world uses as a simple "real-world" example of an approximate meter. Feet, being named for, well, feet, are pretty easy to figure out. It's just the 12 inches make 1 foot, 3 feet make 1 yard, a LOT of feet make a mile sort of inconsistent methodology for gradation that makes imperial inferior for "simple" practices like math or science.
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Nothing says you're in backwards medievalyesque fantasy times like archaic measurements!
Non-trivial? I disagree, in that foot-to-meter conversions are all too easy via this, the internet.
If anything, I would say that Paizo would do well to measure space in "squares," that could be, as translated, to whatever whichever rough measure they see appropriate in the Core Rulebook (assuming a new edition, as it would be a ridiculous hassle to add errata to reflect this in the current, published, edition) per national measuring system translated to.
Technically the US foot is defined as a third of a yard which is defined as a specific fraction of a meter and has been since 1959.
The US survey foot is defined as a weird fraction of a meter and is infinitesimal amount longer then the international foot.
As for making a English PDF with metric measurements, no matter what you may think, it is a nontrivial exercise due to layout issues.
How many jiffies to the second, though?
How many jiffies to the second, though?Technically the US foot is defined as a third of a yard which is defined as a specific fraction of a meter and has been since 1959.
The US survey foot is defined as a weird fraction of a meter and is infinitesimal amount longer then the international foot.
As for making a English PDF with metric measurements, no matter what you may think, it is a nontrivial exercise due to layout issues.
14.2287386 jiffies equal a standard second. Duh!
When it comes to metric conversion, I still use my old Pee-Chee folders from high school.
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This is going to be interesting :-)
Dot for entertainment.
As an Australian I blame DD& for my inability to live with Metric. I couldn't tell you what a Hectare is in metres squared. I know there are 640 acres per square mile, That there are 2240 pounds per ton, that a firkin is 9 gallons or around 80 lb water weight, that there are 5280 feet per mile. that 10 feet x 10 feet x 10 feet of granite is 76 tons.
Metric? Lets round up the french and shoot them for making my life difficult.
Metric just means measure, right? Imperial units measure just fine. I don't like playing D&D with the French, anyway---they are way too creepy-keen on erotica-themed delves...
Alright, got the document finished. I tried to be as exhaustive as possible, while focusing on the most relevant stuff.
Here's the download link (it's a PDF, about 400kb. Host is WeTransfer, pretty safe to use): PFSRD Metric Conversion Guide
I'll see how to add it to the d20pfsrd promptly.
I hope it helps!
Nice conversion guide. Just to point out a typo: there are 10mm to the centimeter, not 100.
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SI units are so much easier. Prefixes always mean the same thing. By comparison, imperial units are clunky and silly. The only reason to use imperials is that you have been exposed to them for a long time.
That said, I can deal with feet and pounds. It is no big deal, and I CERTAINLY don't want autochanged pdfs, and if I feel the need for a conversion list, I am perfectly capable of printing one out myself.
While metric isn't the official system in the US, I think anyone who works in the STEM fields is, by necessity, metric literate so to speak.