Which is perfect for use in a game since it is (a) authentic and (b) close to something already familiar to the players, e.g. feet for the USA and meters for the other folks.
Here's a table of ancien France linear measures from the article, Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution.
Unit
|
Relative
value |
SI
value |
Imperial
value |
Notes
|
point
|
1/123
|
~0.188 mm
|
~7.401 thou
|
This unit is usually called the Truchet point in English.
|
ligne
|
1/122
|
~2.256 mm
|
~88.81 thou
|
This corresponds to the line, a traditional English unit.
|
pouce
|
1/12
|
~27.07 mm
|
~1.066 in
|
This corresponds to the inch, a traditional English unit.
|
pied du roi
|
1
|
~32.48 cm
|
~1.066 ft
|
Commonly abbreviated to 'Pied', this corresponds to the foot, a traditional English unit. Known in English as the Paris foot (properly a separate, shorter unit), the royal foot, or French foot.
|
toise
|
6
|
~1.949 m
|
~6.394 ft, or
~2.131 yd |
This corresponds to the fathom, a traditional English unit. Unlike the fathom, it was used in both land and sea contexts.
|
(league)
lieue ancienne |
~3.248 km
|
~2.018 mi
|
This is an old French league, defined as 10,000 (a myriad) feet. It was the official league in parts of France until 1674.
|
So I can use authentic measures: pouce, pied, toise, and lieue or switch to their English or metric equivalents, e.g. inches, feet, and miles.
Now I just need to remember that a French league is only 2 miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment