Rel
Liquid Awesome
Personally I think you should aim for short rather than long, try to tie your backgroud to one or two of the other PC's in the group (hopefully with that player's consent and cooperation) and see if you can come up with some kind of roleplaying "hook" for the character.
That last bit is something that I always try and do in one-shot games at game days and GenCon because it makes the character fun and memorable to play. My tendency in the past has been to let that develop over the course of the campaign but I've found that having such a thing in place right from the start gives me a "jumping off point" for some of my other roleplaying.
What I'm talking about is just some quirk of the PC that would stand out to the other people around them. Maybe you talk with an unusual accent or have a bad memory (tying it in with a low stat can help be a reminder that that's not your strong suit). It could be that you have a rather unusual behavior like always wiping off your weapon on your dead enemy's shirt. Or you always leave a 1GP tip at the bar even when you only spent a few coppers there. Things like that.
The only caution here is to make sure that whatever your quirk is that it won't be annoying to the other players or yourself over the long haul. Hopefully be playing this character for a long time and you don't want this to be a bother. For example on Saturday I played a Stuporheroes character who was related to the Kennedy Family. So I played him with an over the top Ted Kennedy accent. It was fun for 4 hours but I wouldn't do that for a several month campaign.
That last bit is something that I always try and do in one-shot games at game days and GenCon because it makes the character fun and memorable to play. My tendency in the past has been to let that develop over the course of the campaign but I've found that having such a thing in place right from the start gives me a "jumping off point" for some of my other roleplaying.
What I'm talking about is just some quirk of the PC that would stand out to the other people around them. Maybe you talk with an unusual accent or have a bad memory (tying it in with a low stat can help be a reminder that that's not your strong suit). It could be that you have a rather unusual behavior like always wiping off your weapon on your dead enemy's shirt. Or you always leave a 1GP tip at the bar even when you only spent a few coppers there. Things like that.
The only caution here is to make sure that whatever your quirk is that it won't be annoying to the other players or yourself over the long haul. Hopefully be playing this character for a long time and you don't want this to be a bother. For example on Saturday I played a Stuporheroes character who was related to the Kennedy Family. So I played him with an over the top Ted Kennedy accent. It was fun for 4 hours but I wouldn't do that for a several month campaign.
