Polling the audience:

The concept of Stands from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and the concept of Personas from the Persona series, cash out into basically the same idea for dramaturgical purposes (even though the in-world metaphysics are very different).  A regular individual can possess some kind of gnostically hidden magical power, which can be revealed and unleashed under the right circumstances; this power takes the form of a Magic Person or Magic Creature, a sort of spirit totem, who is ultimately a weird walking manifestation of the individual’s Hidden Mythic Self.  You “do magic” essentially by calling upon your totem, which is inherently magical, to take actions.

This is, for me, a really punchy and resonant model.  I’m thinking that I might want to borrow it and revamp it for a major project that is intended to Go Places.  But I worry that it’s too narrow and distinctive, and thus ultimately too derivative.  Both Jojo’s and Persona are very well-known, and there’s an obvious sense in which they might have already staked out all the available territory here.

What’s your take?  Can you imagine a major media work featuring something in the vein of Stands/Personas not feeling like a rip-off? 

[I’d, uh, I’d probably stay away from the Tarot theme.  If there’s a freebie on the ground, in terms of not looking like a blatant rip-off, I’ll grab it.]