4 Ways to Improve Your Custom Measurements INSTANTLY (Worldbuilding Tips)

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

With a great deal of thanks to Dr. Hafford from Artifactually Speaking. Check out his channel here: kzbin.info/door/6q8GsRYTYW1zeke1erD-uA

[@pabillidge02]

this is very interesting. the only think I can think of right now is a fantasy species of bamboo that has all its segments of the same lenght on each individual. maybe the bamboo changes color while is different states and in transition states. for example the bamboo is green when juvenile state, and when it keeps growing it turns into a dark green which would be a sign not too use the segments as units since they are changing. when it reaches its adult state it turns black and stops growing which is a sign to use the segments as units. maybe there canbe sayings related to the colors of this bamboo. but I don't know if I'm being lazy hahaha

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

ooooh, bamboo is a fascinating idea for measurements.

[@bluejayblaze1180]

Measurements are one place where I can have a lot of fun in my current project, because some of them reflect things that used to be important, but the culture has since changed. So the drakalfar, though no longer a nautical culture after centuries of bonding with and riding dragons, still use some measurements based on the length of different kinds of boats.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

A bit like how in aviation distance is measured in nautical miles and flight altitude in thousands of feet.

[@Livaiduis]

Once again an absultly amazing video with brilliant content!!! ❤❤ i have truly enjoyed this!

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

You're very welcome :)

[@Thegrifter69]

I love Dr Hafford! His channel rules so hard. What a crossover!

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

I agree :D I watch all his content.

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

Distance traveled in my world is always measured in days by the slowest person, animal or vehicle in the group. “Two days travel by X.” Where X is foot, horse, canoe, camel, airship, wagon, etc. I also use waymarkers and waystations. “We will travel until we reach Y”, where Y is the giants head (a rock formation), rainbow falls, Big shelter, the first oasis, the protective light of the lighthouse, etc. Both of these methods convey the culture and its values. The last example conveying a bit of its magic.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

A day's journey is indeed a good measurement. In more organised regions there might be some sort of in or village about that distance away, because most people would end up right at that spot when travelling all day. It would also make sense for the farmer who want's to sell their wares in the next town to be at max a day away. But keep in mind that most people won't know how long a day's journey is. Few have marched or ridden a full day. And there might be variation on how long one travels. Is it 8 hours? 10 hours? 14 hours? Does it include a lunch break in the middle? How early does to start and when does one want to rest.

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

@@HappyBeezerStudios Good points especially if you have Hobbits and have to account for first and second breakfasts!

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

There are also individuals in my world who purposely give inaccurate directions to the inexperienced and then take advantage of that misinformation.

[@jeffschulte7535]

Timely video. I've been struggling with good distance measurements in colonial Louisiana and seem to be limited to feet and days, days being the distance you'd travel in a day. Thanks for the great video!

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

You're very welcome :D

[@nada13_08]

Insane coincidence that I was making my first ever custom measurements for a TTRPG when this uploaded.

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

I hope the video helped :D

[@ficnonnie6006]

A lot of my larger measurements are based on dragon measurements, from way back when the two races remembered each other. Many consider dragons myths now but there's a ton of traces left from their formerly joint if not highly integrated society.

[@alsatusmd1A13]

Since the United Kingdom of Musical Instruments is just a more elaborate objective history, there are not much custom measurements except that their own fine interval measurement for music theory is based on 3/1 rather than 2/1 (viz. the clarinet) because instruments live as people who can naturally sing over a register even more than twice as wide and they divide it into more than 19 coarse parts (usually 30) to make the natural dominant 9th chord return distinct degrees for all of its thirds.

[@tgillies101]

One currency that was interesting was the gold coins in the John Wick movies and its Continental spin off, the ambiguity of their worth fed the enigma of the protagonist and the world so beautifully it was one instance where not understanding the measurement literally fed the story tone.

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

100% and a reminder that for every guideline, there's an opposite thought that works just as well :D

[@ianrosenbalm6555]

Some theorycrafters think that the actual value of the currency is in favors, with the gold coins representing, basically, the smallest favor owed; the markers being the biggest. That's why the coin has such flexible value. A stay at the hotel? A coin. A single drink? Still one coin. Bury one dead body? Still one coin. But if it represents a willingness by the receiver to bend the rules for the giver at some convenient moment, it makes sense (somewhat). An economy of favors is a very intriguing idea, to be sure, if a little half-baked. 😊

[@ronecotex]

Because I'm American I would probably stick to dollars but to make them difference I would have a three-dollar bill $6 bill $7 bill and I would make it purple or some other color That way it's similar enough to understand but still different

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The demoniations would depend on what base the system runs on. USD are basically decimal. You have 1, 10, 100, etc. Then half and double their value to make in between amounts easier. A $3 bill would have no benefit over $1, $2 and $5 And 100 cents in a dollar, not 240, like it was common for over 1000 years.

[@holothuroid9111]

That's very intersting. It indeed fits many of our current definitions too. A meters are based on a natural phenomenon. The approximated circumference of the earth and so on. I wonder though, is a bit in computing task, resource or natural? Or is it something else?

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

A bit is an interesting thought. I would say it's resource based since it measures the memory consumed for the computation or storage of information. The task based measure for me would be the clock speed of the CPU in gigahertz since that's how much work can be done. That's how I'd break it up anyway :)

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I feel like a good measurement system would use natural units and pair them with something the audience will easily understand. There is a reason body parts have been used throughout history all over the world. Most of them went out of fashion, but there is a reason things like feet, span, ell, yard, oxgang, etc were used in the first place. You always had them at hand. But most people nowadays won't have any idea of how much that is. The unit would also need to be scaled up and down and still be understandable. Most will be familiar with a decimal system. So units that are 10, 100, 1000 times as much as the next smallest unit. Not 3 or 12 or 14 or 72 or 240 or 1728.

[@gwventura1]

So I have a thought that I think would work in either a fantasy or post apocalyptic setting. The question is, how long is a long sword? Normally there will be no set rule, because the swords are created by individual blacksmiths. But what if one blacksmith had a very large shop in a very large city? This forge might be run by dwarfs or whomever you want to be the best blacksmiths in your world. They decide to standardize the length of a long sword. It would be cool if they also put markings on the sword that might indicate smaller units (centimeters) and allow adventurers to measure things without having to carry a ruler, yardstick or measuring tape with them. It might be named after the forge.

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

Nice!

[@TheMichaellathrop]

I could easily see you using a defined sash length to describe someones weight by how many times they can wrap around them as well as measures of distance for land ownership, but if the sumputary laws allow nobles to wear a longer sash then not only can they afford to own more sashes of land but are likely to pay less in taxes per acre as each acre would be less sashes, also a noble of the same weight as a commoner would be more wraps (and therefore described as being skinnier). I could also see this leading to some snide comments about the length of a nobles sash among the commoners, either comments about the dependency in length's tax rate affecting the share nobles pay or maybe use fractions of a sash to describe height and therefore claim the nobles are less tall(we still think Napoleon was short because the contemporary french foot was longer than the English foot) or use it to imply that noblemen are less... viral than commoners because their body parts are less fractions of a sash.

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

Hahahahaha, that's awesome. Imma a make note :D

[@kelpiekit4002]

It can also say a lot by who are using the measurements. In the Discworld books the wizards of Unseen University often talk about magic in a measured way. You have to balance the mass of a teleport. The work of a spell balances against the work to do the same effect without magic. Magic has a unit of measurement, the thaum, which can be further divided into six resons. Even belief has a quantifiable balance. Meanwhile the witches describe magic more in mindsets, stories, and relationships. No measurements. In both of these the magic is the same magic but one perceives it like physics while the other views it more like psychology. Measuring magic for the wizards is basically a form of control by knowledge. While the witches have a qualitative relationship of understanding.

[@HelotOnWheels]

The problem of not being able to visualize fantasy units is very real. Often the best way to tackle it is to use the fact that fantasy worlds are usually populated by Earthlike humans. Thus a resting heartbeat will be about three quarters of a second, a pace will be about two feet, a pregnancy will last 40 weeks, and a cubit will be about 46 centimeters in our world and the fantasy world alike. Materials, in turn, will often be Earthlike, so a cubic foot of water will still weigh about 62 pounds. The alien measurement can then be introduced using these familiar units. For example: “Padme was allowed by the Prince to claim one briot of land, so she drove four stakes in a square 233 paces on a side to mark the borders of her new farmstead.” A glossary in the back, like a cast of characters, can be a great help to a forgetful reader. Lastly, a fantasy world may not only have different measurements of familiar things like distance, time, weight, and value, but may need to measure things our mundane world doesn’t have. For a great example, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld measures magic in “thaums,” one “thaum” being the quantity of magic needed to create one white pigeon or three billiard balls.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Keep in mind that these units will be unfamiliar to the vast majority of readers. I would need to use a conversion table and a calculator to figure out that Padme gets about 2 hectare of land. Or 85 by 85 man-height. But from studies I learned some units, and know that the prussian pace would be 2.4 post-1959 feet, or 2.54 of our local feet. Unless it's the modern pace of 2.5 post-1959 feet, in which case it would be 2.63 local feet. In both cases it would be closer to 3 hectare.

[@trevinwhiteley2730]

That intro cracked me up

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

When the rain started I was like "for real? Now? WTF"

[@ticijevish]

You can also use these principles on sci-fi. I'm writing a post-apocalyptic Earth in which climate change has made the world almost uninhabitable. Instead of using temperature and humidity and wet bulb temperatures, the weather apps in my setting reports the day's condition in units of time. Namely, the length of time a healthy person can survive being outdoors. People were misjudging the heat of the day and how much they could do outdoors and thia resulted in many deaths due to heat stroke (and people ignoring the humidity). Thus, everyone is simply told how many minutes they can survive outdoors, uniting the temperature and humidity into a single number that's easy for everyone to understand. Minutes.

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

I mean that's a good measurement system :) And yes, sci fi or fantasy, both apply, though sci-fi would tend to more precision in measurements.

[@ticijevish]

@@JustInTimeWorldbuilding It's also a nifty way of circumventing the Celsius vs Fahrenheit thing. 😉

[@yunomi1950]

You may be able to avoid creating measurement systems by imagining the entire narrative as a translation. Just as the dialog is a translation, likely, of some unknown language into your language, measurements can also be converted into a familiar, existing system such as Metric. This is especially true for sci-fi where devising new systems may not be necessary, or might be distracting. My current project is a good example. It appears to be a fantasy, but is actually sci-fi; plus it has ties to one culture on Earth that adopted metric prior to beginning of the future-history in my universe. Once the reader discovers the true nature of the world, they will understand why metric is used. In other stories, dropping hints that the text is a translation into the reader's language can also explain the use of Earth-based systems. As pointed out on the video, cultural emersion can be a good reason to create them, but they don't have to be official systems. Rather, colloquial terms with less accuracy. Like rein deer relief, the phrases "two shakes of dog's tail" or "a New York minute" are examples; just much less precise. This allows the author to convey something about the culture without creating entire systems.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

That is pretty much what Tolkien did. The entire story was written down by the characters and translated into english. And in other translations the names are translated just as much as the places are.

[@ronecotex]

One way to measure time is there something I call the screeching bird these are trained Birds you would use to hold cattle and they're known to Screech at dawn if they Screech at night you know something's wrong

[@kMegalonyx]

How would an elf measure things with their ears!? Do they always have a friend on hand to bend down and lend an ear? Are they removable? Do their ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro?

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

Any of those 😂 Except maybe the friend one.

[@bobbiebrownn]

Measure in beard length 😂😂😂

[@JustInTimeWorldbuilding]

It amused me :D

[@aSnailCyclopsNamedSteve]

Ok, many professional elements like chapters, speaking speed, links to your books. The length is too long for my liking. The problem comes in that this is a nice start but the thought is incomplete. In a truly alien world, the basic concepts of grass, trees, deciduous, evergreen, mammal, reptile, etc. are all out the window. If the sun is a different colour, perhaps even life would have different colours. So, why do authors continue using Earth terms like oak and elm? Because the object, the supreme being, is the story, not the worldbuilding. Oak and elm convey emotions, the same way dart and vault convey more emotion than run and jump. Second, measurements are based on things readily available in the hand. A cubit or a span were used because our hands are readily available. Why do we have a decimal system? Possibly because we have 10 fingers. Thus elf ears and dwarf beards are unlikely measurements. And the true measurement was the king's cubit, redefined with each coronation. Thus, it would be the king's ear and beard, not each individual person's. (Both would have to be highly protected in battle lest the measurement system be forced to change.) That said, where does one draw the line? Well, returning to Rothfuss, the reason why his currency system is so complicated is because it sharply highlights the protagonist's economic situation. And the complexity does not bother me because it is not the system I am looking at, but the character's response. 10 million dollars may mean a lot to you and me, but to Musk, it is meaningless at this point. Thus, the importance is in the response. A worldbuilding element lacking a response is just infodumping. So, why do we have oaks and elms? Because the characters are not reacting to the vegetation. If the protagonist is hungry all the time, then I have a reason to describe the food in great detail. Otherwise, it is infodumping and breaking the fourth wall, i.e., asking the reader to admire me, the author, and my creativity. Every detail on every page show work to promote the topic(s) explored in the story. If something does not add to the storyline, then cutting it does not affect the story and it should be cut.