distance

Can you get heah from theah?

adapted from "the White Book":
DC Heroes 3rd Edition by Mayfair Games

In the MEGS system, physical linear distance is measured on an exponential system comparable to measurements of time, volume, information, velocity, wealth, mass, and most other quantifiable concepts. This makes superheroic calculations of comic book concepts easier and more epic, but it does take some practice!

Remember:

• AP Math is not like everyday math. One AP plus one AP almost always equals two APs, yes. However! Two APs plus two APs may only equal three APs!
• This is true because a given AP covers a range of measured values!
• Negative APs may still be positive quantities. In fact, they almost always are.
• While The Rule of Maximum Drek may apply, it is also a guiding principle for the GMs that we are here to roleplay, not to get the math perfect.

Manifestation

The base unit of Zero APs Distance is

10 feet

A typical Character, if not constrained in some way, can probably reach any touchable surface within 10 feet of themselves. A generic Character using no special ability can travel 10 feet (0 APs of distance) in 4 seconds (0 APs of time).

Distance AP Benchmarks and Upper Limits

Compiled from page 180 of DC Heroes 3rd Edition by Mayfair Games, published in 1993 and then corrected via Technical charts and tables from Writeups dot Org. This table lists useful approximate benchmarks within the range of measurements covered by a given AP distance, followed by an example of something that matches this AP measurement in at least one dimension, followed by the upper limit of that range.

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APs	Benchmark	roughly equivalent to:	Upper Limit
0	10 feet	width of typical booth or tent at a convention	10 feet
1	20 feet	required minimum length of a parking space inside a parking garage in NYC	20 feet
2	40 feet	length of a standard metal shipping container	40 feet
3	80 feet	an entire roll of thermal printer paper all rolled out flat	80 feet
4	150 feet	common length for garden hose or CAT6 network cable	160 feet (53 yds 1 ft or 48.8 m)
5	100 yards	standard football field length between end zones	320 feet (106 yds 2 ft or 97.5 m)
6	200 yards	Harlem River width at Lexington Avenue subway crossing	640 feet (213 yds 1 ft or 195.1 m)
7	1/8 mile	range actually covers from just over a tenth of a mile up to nearly a quarter mile!	1280 ft (426 yds 2 ft or 390.1 m)
8	1/4 mile	height of the Empire State Building, 2 to 4 city blocks in NYC or Metropolis	2560 feet (853 yds 1 ft or 780.2 m, nearly half a mile)
9	1/2 mile	Central Park width from Fifth Avenue to Central Park West	5120 feet (1706 yds 2 ft or 1.56 km, 0.97 mile)
10	1 mile		10240 feet (3413 yds 1 ft or 3.12 km, 1.94 miles)
11	2 miles	north-south length of Central Park is 2 miles, east-west width of Manhattan Island is about 2.3 miles	3 miles 4640 feet (6286 yds 2 ft or 6.24 km)
12	4 miles		7 miles 4000 feet (13653 yds 1 ft or 12.48 km)
13	8 miles	north-south length of Manhattan Island is 13.4 miles	15 miles 2720 feet (27306 yds 2 ft or 24.97 km)
14	16 miles		31 miles 160 feet (54613 yds 1 ft or 49.94 km)
15	32 miles		62 miles 320 feet (109320 yds or 99.89 km)
16	64 miles	Boston, MA to Concord, NH	124 miles 640 feet (218460 yds or 199.76 km)
17	125 miles	Vienna, Austria to Budapest, Hungary	248 miles 1280 feet (436920 yds or 399.52 km)
18	250 miles	length of Lake Volta in Ghana	496 miles 2560 feet (873840 yds or 799.04 km)
19	500 miles	everybody sing!	992 miles 5120 feet (1747680 yds or 1598.08 km)
20	1000 miles	Greece to Germany	1985 miles 4960 feet (3495360 yds or 3196.16 km)

Since each AP value represents a range, bear in mind that two Characters might have the same AP rating but describe different extreme limits for themselves, and both be correct! Bronze Tempest can pinpoint any sound she hears up to 4 city blocks away. Knight Thrasher can feel an incoming ballistic piano even if it was launched at him from a shade less than half a mile away. These can both be their upper limits even though their respective Powers are Directional Hearing 8 for Bronze Tempest and Danger Sense 8 for Thrasher!

Localization

Negative AP Benchmarks

As the size of the area under consideration reduces, the Mayfair Exponential Gaming System gets a tad wobbly. We do have values for some negative APs! When working in this scale, however, it's important to get the math "Close Enough!" and move on in the story.

Negative Distance Benchmarks

Borrowed from page 92 of DC Heroes 3rd Edition by Mayfair Games, published in 1993, this table lists useful approximate benchmarks within the range of measurements covered by a given negative AP distance. The Guideline of "Close Enough! Back to the story!" is meant to apply at this scale.

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APs	Distance
0	10 feet
-1	5 feet
-2	2½ feet
-3	1 foot
-4	6 inches
-5	3 inches
-6	1½ inches
-7	¾ inch
-8	1 cm
-9	5 mm
-10	2½ mm

Type

Natural

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Distance-related AP mathematical formulas

• Distance = Speed + Time
• Time = Distance - Speed
• Speed = Distance - Time
• Distance thrown = Str - (Weight of object)