I also don’t know about ripping off movie and TV characters and just swapping out the names. I suppose it depends on the character, but I feel like this is the easiest one to tell that it was “stolen”.

You wouldn't put them wholesale into a game. For example, you'd mentally label an NPC as a 'Spock' and play him as intellectual and logical. Another as a 'McCoy' and play him as compassionate, emotional, and a bit of a catastrophiser. Obviously, you wouldn't use them together as the crew of a ship (along with a 'Kirk' and a 'Scotty'), that would be a bit on the nose. And you wouldn't steal characters' history or catch-phrases, you would just use the core of the character as a shorthand for personality, as a guide for how they might present themselves, think, and interact with others.

There's no reason, say, a fantasy city council couldn't be run by:

• a 'Hannibal Lecter' (brilliant, urbane, lover of the finer things)
• a 'Lesley Knope' (energetic, rules follower)
• a 'Sarah Connor' (determined, uncompromising)
• a 'Stringer Bell' (confident ambitious, maybe with a secret past)
• a 'Dr. Gregory House' (cantankerous, confrontational, cynical)