I agree that Exalted missed the boat in far too many ways to ever be The Next Big Thing.  There's a six-volume essay's worth of balls they dropped, sealing the line's fate (it's not a failure, judging by the printing schedule, but not the 800 pound gorilla they were shooting for.)

I have no idea what the next generation of aesthetics should shoot for, though.  Anime's out of the bag, just like everyone above said.  You hit the cons and they're packed full of ravers and b-boys and goths and scene kids (and they're all about twelve, it seems.)   "Otaku" culture isn't what you aim at anymore.

People, kids especially, aren't going to buy things because they "look" manga anymore.

If they're going to go Japanese, they should go all out.  Hire the Japanese artists who pack 2chan and the other imageboards full.  Get the dudes who did the Japanese Cthulhu d20.  Get Kentaro motherfucking Miura to do a spread or a cover.

If they're not, then don't mess around with half-assed "manga inspired" art.  Do something intensely western.  The steampunk in Iron Kingdoms comes to mind: evocative and stylish.  It also hides its sources well enough that it doesn't seem hopelessly derivative.

Not everything's going to be steampunk, I know.  All the same, I see it as a sign that western fantasy aesthetics aren't buried with Keith Parkinson.

I think heading in a direction more inspired by current trends is a good start. The target audience that should be getting into rpg's to keep the hobby alive are more influenced by anime, video games, etc.
Beyond general content, I wish more publishers would also strive to update their "look" to fit closer to the times: layout, artwork, concepts, etc.
The generation we need to appeal to has to think the products are "cool" and can relate to them in both content and overall design. . . or they will just keep on playing their video games and never even notice tabletop games.

Quote from: RPGPunditIf D&D had looked more like Lodoss Wars or Final Fantasy... [snip] ...it might have lost some of the old geezers who don't like anime because its "childish".

You plainly have no idea what the fuck you're talking about.

!i!

[Edit: Oh! Wait.  You used a mitigating term -- "some".  You caught me off guard by deviating from your usual hyperbole.]

I don't think the look is going to change that much. There will always be certain genres that shine for awhile than fade, and there always be genres that for awhile at least influence rpg content.

P&P rpgs will more or less remain the same, maybe with better production values. D&D will always be around, and so will the hippie games.

Regards,
David R

I feel pretty certain that future rpgs will have lots of pictures of h4wt chixxorz.

Also, there will be more systems which require rolling lots of dice, because people like to roll lots of dice.

Quote from: RPGPunditI think Anime is going to be a major influence in the future, I think the next really big RPG is going to be connected to anime/manga in some form (though not BeSM, we aren't talking "the Anime RPG", we're talking about RPGs influenced by themes from Anime), and I also think that the next version of D&D is going to have much more Anime influence.

Bah. Passing fad. By the time the next iteration of D&D rolls around, American youth's rather garish streak of yellow fever will have gone the way of the pet rock and the Flock of Seagulls haircut.

Quote from: YamoBah. Passing fad. By the time the next iteration of D&D rolls around, American youth's rather garish streak of yellow fever will have gone the way of the pet rock and the Flock of Seagulls haircut.

Your cultural predictions leave much to be desired when compared to present reality.  

It's kinda hard to call something a "fad" when it's been steadily gaining cultural influence for over 25 years.

Quote from: J ArcaneYour cultural predictions leave much to be desired when compared to present reality.  

It's kinda hard to call something a "fad" when it's been steadily gaining cultural influence for over 25 years.

I'm sure plenty of people said the same thing after disco and hair metal had a few years under their belts.

If you're jumping on a bandwagon any time after it becomes absolutely crystal-clear that a bandwagon is what it is, you're too late. The moment is fading.

Anyway, Pundit is wrong on principal if nothing else. No game will ever get ahead by actively betraying what took it as far as it's already come. It's as sure a law as gravity. Most of us first picked-up on that when AD&D's horrible 1989 revision hit. Baugh's Gamma World, anyone?

So D&D will always owe any success it enjoys to its ability to stick to its initial premise: Classic swords & sorcery. If it tried to jump on every fleeting kid trend and be an anime this year and the Matrix the next and Harry Potter the year after that? Please...

Pundit should know better than that.

Quote from: YamoI'm sure plenty of people said the same thing after disco and hair metal had a few years under their belts.

If you're jumping on a bandwagon any time after it becomes absolutely crystal-clear that a bandwagon is what it is, you're too late. The moment is fading.

Your ignorance astounds and amazes, and for this you have my measured gratitude at the amusement it provides.

Quote from: YamoI'm sure plenty of people said the same thing after disco and hair metal had a few years under their belts.

If you're jumping on a bandwagon any time after it becomes absolutely crystal-clear that a bandwagon is what it is, you're too late. The moment is fading.

25 is more'n a couple. Anime is here to stay (barring the unlikely event of western animation catching up... then again, with Adult Swim and Sci-Fi's "Amazing Screw-On Head" that's looking more likely). It's already started going downhill in terms of quality, and will continue to do so. But that's not going to stop it at all. Anymore than it stopped soap-operas (crap), game shows (crap), reality television (crap), or sitcoms (great potential... but mostly crap).

As for an influence on games? Hell yeah. Good fantasy/scifi is hard to come by lately. Next generation of gamers is gonna be most familiar with videogames and anime. Likely, RPGs will not get rid of what they've collected, but will pick up these things in addition to previously existing tropes.

Quote from: beejazz25 is more'n a couple. Anime is here to stay (barring the unlikely event of western animation catching up... then again, with Adult Swim and Sci-Fi's "Amazing Screw-On Head" that's looking more likely). It's already started going downhill in terms of quality, and will continue to do so.

So you're disagreeing with me by agreeing with me?

Quote from: YamoSo you're disagreeing with me by agreeing with me?

Anime's gonna do a couple of things.

1)Degrade into total bull.
2)Stay on top anyway because American/European animators don't have the budgets to replace it.
3)Influence (but not replace) the tropes of existing RPGs.

Quote from: J ArcaneYour ignorance astounds and amazes, and for this you have my measured gratitude at the amusement it provides.

Aww. That's so inexplicably personal that it baffled me for a second. I didn't stumble over your sensitive otaku fandom loyalties, did I?

Tell you what: I'll promise not to say anymore bad things about Japanese children's cartoons if you promise to never mention the details of your life-sized Sakura pillow with the strategically-placed hole. Deal?

Anime's current popularity has as much to do with the cost of producing animation domestically vs. importing and redubbing stuff from other countries as it does with anything else.

Quote from: StuartAnime's current popularity has as much to do with the cost of producing animation domestically vs. importing and redubbing stuff from other countries as it does with anything else.

On the plus side, more affordable Flash animation coupled with great writing has recently been allowing for brilliant stuff like Venture Brothers and Metalocalypse, which trump anything coming out of Japan for me.