[@BrokenPromise]

Yeah, I get what you mean. The rp community I was part of had similar problems in the past: One of the players decided to act like a d-bag, caused a schism in the community which led to its falling out. Beyond that, things like power-scaling was never really a problem, since everyone just respected each other's abilities in that regard, and made sure the characters had something sufficient to challenge them.

I think a good way to deal with things getting out of hand, is to keep the group small, initially. Like, have a group of 4-5 players and run through a few scenarios/plots that wouldn't take too long to complete. I think something like the characters moving in, or just roaming around the setting for a while during some event, or even an Avengers-styled assembling against a common enemy.

After that, we can gradually include more people. I think I'll make that bit more invitation-based. Like say one of us playing could invite someone we know to join us, and go from there?