Campaign idea i had

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

So, I've been wanting to jump back into Roleplaying after a long hiatus and after looking at a bunch of my old character concepts i came up with an idea for a campaign idea with something i'd never tried before.The story goes like this. Ten children were born to some decidedly shitty parents who come to the conclusion that poverty suck and kids are a drag, so they join up with a demon cult that promises them great wealth if they just sacrifice children to a high ranking demon. Having a dearth of money and a shit-ton of kids they decide to line up their kids for demonic sacrifice. The first child, the eldest son, is slain in full view of the other nine. His twin sister is just about to be knelt down to meet the same fate, when the Church of Sarenrae jumps in and busts up the cult meeting. The pranets and the cultists are tried and found guilty of heresy and consorting with demons. The leaders are executed, the followers imprisoned for life, and the children are given to the church as wards of the state. some stayed in the church, some left for various reasons, and all grew up to adopt a different alignment and class in their adult lives. The roster is thus:

Jericho, a LG paladin of Sarenrae who has made it his mission to protect other from the evils that scourged his family, while also working within a church that does not fully trust the son of heretics.
Terrence, a NG cleric of sarenrae. Being only a babe at the time of his siblings encounter with cultists, he lacks any clear memories of the event and attends to his flock with limitless good cheer and irrepressible optimism
Beryl, a CG bard that is currently on tour with a wildly popular band loosely based on Rock Bitch (http://www.rockbitch.com/html/Home.html)
Lawrence, a LN marshal of the state known for his rock hard demeanor and willingness to go to any length to get his man.
Sheryl, a TN urban druid(witch?) is forced out of her comfortable world of community works and activism and into the world of adventuring to make sure her brothers dont get themselves killed.
Aerys, a CN oracle who is struggling with a burgeoning drug problem as she tours with her sister Beryl and her band.
Geralt, a LE wizard who became obsessed with binding and controlling demons
Carolyn, a NE alchemist who was locked in a mental institution after the church failed to be able to control her.....experiements with chemicals and the human body
Marilyn, a CE antipaladin, the eldest daughter who's twin was murdered right before her very eyes, and who's only desire is to see the world burnt down so that she might dance in the ashes

How this came about is I came up with a backstory for one character, which happened to involve a lot of his family and family ties. after some thought i realized that the characters given in the backstory and the ties between all of them would be much more interesting than the lone character by himself so I thought what if i statted the characters out, let the players pick whichever family member strikes their fancy, and then start them off playing as one of three "parties" depending on which characters they choose. i've never done this sort of oldschool "The DM stats all your characters for you" type of campaign, so i'd like to know what you think, and what i should be aware of to keep it fun and interesting for the players.

[Vanadium Gryllz]

That's a really interesting idea. Jericho particularly strikes me as an interesting character - the idea that the church he has devoted his life to still distrusts him on some level could enable some cool RP.

You mentioned that the players would (initially?) be split into three parties and that touches on the only concern that I was going to raise - a lot of the problems that the few games I have played have run into ultimately arise from the fact that none of the characters have any real reason for wanting to work together. What would be your 'hook' for getting the story going (and keeping it going) with such a large cast of diverse characters?

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

well first off, the parties would arise organically based on what people wanna play most. If everyone want to play the good party they will start off there, same thing for the evil one. As for the hook, i like the idea of having a motivation for RP that springs from familial bonds- the idea the people will want to help each other because "Goddamnit i gotta protect the cleric, he's my little brother" as opposed to "godamnit i gotta protect the cleric because he's our only white mage." Also i like the idea of having strong feelings arise between characters that have little to do with romance or sex. For instance i've decided that Mary the antipaladin's God will be Rovagug, the one deity who the paladins of Sarenrae are unable to even consider granting mercy to. The fact that Jericho works so hard to balance justice and mercy despite the mistrust of the church and then must eventually be forced to either kill his sister or violate his paladin oath, will be a major conflict for him.

[The Wizard Joseph]

The net you need for these characters is inherent in your family theme. You never specified what happened to the parents nor quite how the children wound up in such diverse situations. Answer those and you can make a hook.

Your premise and concept characters are quite interesting!

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

I'm thinking that the parents ended up in a church dungeon for their crimes, being low level memebers of a cult granted them the small mercy of being thrown in a dungeon to be forgotten about. Not sure if they should have escaped my the start of the campaign or if that should be a dungeon crawl in itself.

as for the interrelationships between the siblings, i have a rough idea as to why they ended up where they did, but i'll post that later when i'm not so tired. it gets kind of complicated.

[The Wizard Joseph]

I'm thinking that the parents ended up in a church dungeon for their crimes, being low level memebers of a cult granted them the small mercy of being thrown in a dungeon to be forgotten about. Not sure if they should have escaped my the start of the campaign or if that should be a dungeon crawl in itself.

as for the interrelationships between the siblings, i have a rough idea as to why they ended up where they did, but i'll post that later when i'm not so tired. it gets kind of complicated.

Cool. Stories often unfold out of a vague beginning anyway. Shit half the point of roleplay versus a novel is the unknown elements that good players can bring to the table.