Tens and Elevenses
What's the most fun you ever had creating something in a game that changed the game-world? and Have you ever seen or met someone -- in person, on TV, in a movie, or whatever -- who made you think "Oh my goodness, that's my character!" Who was it (if you know), and what were the similarities?
First things first... the first one seems to me to be something along the provinces of the player's input on a game world, because everything the GM does should be, well, a) fun, and b) something that changes the game world (at least to a point.) So in order for the question to pack some punch, it seems to me, like all punch-packing performances, it needs to be something unexpected.
I'm now fishing from a much more limited barrel. This is not a phrase I think I've ever run across, but it ought to be, if you ask me.
I think probably what I've always had the most fun creating are character legends. It was my character Santiago who managed to chase off a battlemech with a pointed stick. Yes, he could have been burnt to a crisp...but it was all about attitude. It was Pikabu who pointed out the usefulness of laser carbines in elevator shafts. It was Princess Krrsed and the newspaper spell. It was Damascus and her launching of her fellow PC Harp... because if he really was in a hurry to the fight, he needed a boost. Heck, I quoted from that game (two ACNW's ago) this morning.
The advantage of character legends is that they're a tool for both player and GM. The player gets the reputation running, the GM has an in-joke that can explain some of the hard-to-buy bits. For example, the pointed stick shouldn't have worked, but...it let the GM keep us alive.
Oh, and it provides for amusing, "No Way! There I Was..." stories. If you can tell them that way.
As for the "character similarity," bit...well, there was Jade from the now-defunct Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon that constantly reminded me of a child-Damascus. The eyes and hair were both perfect, even if Jade was a bit more of a thinker-type. I have a cover for a porno-magazine that makes the world's best Deirdre, IMO. (I should look up the model's name, but if I recall from the rest of the magazine, it's only the cover photo which is perfect. Anyway, I only got it for the stories...erm.) My childhood self could have come from the pages of, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. There are definitely times when I look up at something and say, "That's ____."
Some other examples... The Angel Simon in "The Prophecy" is my "personal Brand." (You know, the example you use to fit a slot in a game until you come up with that game's version of a character.) Ivanova from Babylon 5 often quoted things almost exactly like my husband's character, Aster, daughter of Benedict's point-of-view. I'm a fairly firm believer of the "Nicole Kidman as Florimel" school of thought. Examples in literature are fewer.
Now, as for people I've THOUGHT of making characters for... [grinning]