The Sliding Scale Comic
is a gaming Webcomic in its infancy, drawn in a stick figure style and hosted under a blog format. It is a parody is both WesternRPGs and EasternRPGs, with its primary gimmick being that the Knight character, "Cyn", hailing from the world of the sterotypical Western RPG is transported into a completely alien (to him) EasternRPG world via a cosmic event. The world itself is an original setting, but it refernces various role playing games including Oblivion, Dragon Age and Final Fantasy.
Strips currently focus on mocking various elements of RPG gameplay mechanics and storyline, with very little linking one page to the next, though author has promised an actual storyline, as well as stating that (s)he has at least one story arc planned out, as well as having recently given his/her readers a first glimpse of a pair of recurring villains.
This comic provides examples of:
- Anime Hair: Lark has relatively spiky hair, whilst Grof has a long, gravity-defying strand of hair sticking out in front of his head.
- Art Evolution: Despite being a very new webcomic there has been some quite noticable Art Evolution in between page 1 and page 10, for instance character designs have changed, particularly that of Grof, and the quality of the hair made a notable improvement from page 2 to page 3. This may have something to do with the fact that author has confessed that he/she has never drawn anything before.
- BFS: Lark wields a very large, two-handed sword reminiscent of characters from certain JRPGs, of which Lark is a parody. It is even held in a stereotypical manner, and amazingly manages to SticksToTheBack. This is in contrast to Cyn who wields a much smaller, one-handed sword, which he apparently conjures up using magic, and so it is rarely seen outside of battle.
- Cleavage Window: Sara has one, in the shape of a heart.
- Genre Savvy: Sara displays elements of genre savviness, lampshading the fact that the characters are better off starting the Level Grinding of an RPG as early as possible, as well as listing a number of clichéd reasons as to why she believes that Cyn, a guest party member, will ultimately fill the fourth permanent party member slot on their team.
- Random Encounters: Lampshaded by Cyn, who is not particularly happy when he runs into a purple humanoid twice his size from seemingly out of nowhere.
- Shoplift and Die: Cyn acts surprised when Lark starts taking things from an old woman's house, but she explains to him that since Lark is an adventurer he is allowed to take anything he wants with no repercussions. When Cyn tries this he is immediately stopped by a guard, in a Shout-Out to Oblivion.
- Trapped in Another World: Cyn gets magically transported to the world of an Eastern RPG, and is currently attempting to get home (though Sara alludes that this isn't likely to happen, using her Genre Savvy awareness). This is caused by...
- When the Planets Align: A planetary alignment is currently the only reason given as to why Cyn gets transported to the other world, complete with giant, purple beam from space.
- Intentional Engrish for Funny: The innkeeper's dialogue in page 10 is written as this, much to Cyn's annoyance. Lampshaded by Sara who explains that he has a condition known as Poor Translation Syndrome.
