I see this question, or one very much like it, among those listed in every questionnaire/challenge I come across.
This makes sense to some degree. It is one of the purposes of these things to share ideas, and resources with the 'RPG community'? By reading your answers, and comparing them with my answers, I may see a different, even better way of doing things. I may discover a game I did not previously know about, or in this case a source of inspiration I hadn't thought of.
The problem with the question is that it asks what your 'best' source of inspiration (single) for RPGs (plural) is.
I don't know about you, but I don't have a single best source for ALL my RPG needs. How could I?
Silver and Bronze Age Superhero comic books are a lousy source of ideas for running World of Darkness. I don't think my issues of OMNI Magazine, and my Terran Trade Authority books do my Mouse Guard, or Pendragon games much good either. I am heavily inspired by visuals, but my books reprinting the works of Arthur Rackham do little for my Traveller game.
So there is no best source. There are instead great sources.
Pinterest is my newest all around source for different, inspiring images. Put in the tag words you want, and see what you get. For Mekton I might put in: Mecha, Giant, Robot. I might add Sci-fi, or Fantasy depending on the type of campaign I'm going for. For Star Trek, OMG! There are so many images you can spend a few days going through them all.
For fantasy, well that's not my cup of tea per se, but in addition to a wide variety, and quantity of images on Pinterest, I like to browse websites, books, and such that show video game, and MMO concept art. I am especially fond of the newer Korean and Thailand artists' works, as they mix traditional D&D, and Anime/Manga with an older, more authentically Western Medieval look. It's hard to describe, but basically, as the Western RPG artists go more, and more over the top (like in D&D, and Pathfinder) the Eastern ones go more subtle, and subdued. Cool stuff.
Young adult fiction! Hear me out; I've been really disappointed with regular Star Wars novels of late, not to mention my general disdain for Fantasy fiction, but Young Adult books have been rather interesting and clever of late. J.M. Lee has a series of fantasy books set in the world of Jim Henson's Dark Crystal, the first of which is out already. I'm reading it, and it's really quite good. My favorite of the post-Return of the Jedi/The Force Awakens books has been Lost Stars by Claudia Gray.
In conclusion, anything and everything can be a source for gaming inspiration. Don't limit yourself to one source, nor one game for that matter. Be inspired by a lot of different things for a lot of different things. Keep your eyes peeled, your ears alert, and your mind open.
Now...hmmm...how to use OMNI magazine with Mouse Guard...
AD
Barking Alien
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