[GM'S WANTED] D&D 5.0 West Marches-style game

For those who don't know, a West Marches style game is one built on exploration, collaboration, cooperation, and the knowledge that creatures you face may be far too powerful for you right now and may need to be faced another day. Or perhaps a certain door or puzzle cant be completed until you get something from a different location and have to return.
Now when I say collaboration, that is because West Marches games tend to have multiple people running the game: multiple adventures happening at the same time in the same world. Through talking to other PC's you can learn more about the world and what structures and locations are about. Perhaps you all collaborate to start building a map of where you are.

For this game, a mysterious portal opened up near the largest city in your homeland. The king's mage offered coin for an expedition to see what is on the other side. When you arrive on the other side, you have no memory of why you were there in the first place. Why is it the portal only allows you to come here but not to return?
The portal opens into the courtyard of a large fortified keep. The keep appears to be old but people have been rebuilding it and continuing to grow it as more and more people seem to keep coming through the portal.

Here's where it gets interesting...
Everyone can make 3 level 1 characters. Your own personal "CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER" screen.
We will have a Check In/Check Out thread for whether characters are at the Keep or out on a job.
Maybe you all will start new settlements.

If there is a post on the Notice Board, it is a job or adventure a DM wants to run with you. If things get hairy, don't be afraid to run and fight another day. Maybe you need to hire a higher level PC to help fight stronger enemies. High level PCs, maybe you want a higher cut of the loot when all is said and done for your services.

Gamebreaking builds are not allowed. All players and DMs want to have fun. It's hard to have fun when only one person is obliterating everything.

Allowed Material:

- All 5.0e books, however, I prefer characters to be built by Race, as opposed to Lineage.
- Matthew Mercer's Blood Hunter Class (Basically, a Witcher)
- The Scholar (Think the 4e Warlord)

Forbidden Material:

- Silvery Barbs
- Feats (These may be given out as special rewards by DMs)
- Races with flying or climbing speeds

There is a poll below regarding how we should treat flying / climbing races. I'll update this section on 02/10 based on the result.

I'll have different threads set up for RP purposes, such as The Mead Hall, The Market, and the Trading Hall.
For the most part, the Keep will "lack NPC's" meaning that they are there but aren't run by anyone. They are in the background and help set the stage for RP. Any NPC's that would be interactable for the most part will be through Jobs on the Notice Board.

This is because I don't want to have a DM specifically set to the Keep when there is so much more opportunity about.

Make friends! Build Teams! Forge Alliances! Figure out the mystery of this place. Is there a way home? Can you bring home here?

For the most part, I'd be giving you free reign of your adventure. This is a collaborative game so I'd allow you to have some say on how the world works and what wheeling and dealing is going on in the shadows. I'd have the final say on those things just in case. The same would go for any magic items. I don't want some uber powerful item being used by player-friend and it starts an inter-player war.

I think the biggest challenge is starting your second job. If there are 8+ players split into two teams or more split into more teams and one team finish their job few months (real life, not story time) ahead of the other teams - then you either have the same team starting new job without interaction with other PCs or have players wait for unknown amount of time.


Perhaps you have a solution to problem or know how to properly avoid it. Ignore the below if you do. If not - this is an example solution that I don't like, but I just can't imagine any better:
There is a real life time ticking for each job you start. Let's say you apply to a job on 1st of March. You know that if you don't complete the job by 31st of May - you failed the job and get no rewards, because 1st of June we are picking a new job.