Thought this might be fun to try and it was a blast, the idea was to make it more challenging than a single base model and it was! The only rule is that you have to create your own base and transactions are done through a barter system (which is leading to a universal currency). It isn't strictly a model of "everyone goes there own way", people do go on joint ventures on a voluntary basis. Watching how everyone sets up their base is enthralling, some opt for lavish setups and designed set pieces, others go the minimalist route with less attention to orderly design.
What was interesting about this dynamic is that players who were conditioned to the single base model weren't always prepared for every exigency as they forgot that they were responsible for everything. Another fascinating component is the "price" of goods in the barter system, one person values 40 grass as 20 wood and vice-versa. Gears of course buy you quite a bit. Gold at first commands a very high price then it diminishes rapidly. The basics for barter don't change too much though, they are grass, wood, and silk (not so much twigs) because "farming" them is labor intensive.
The other serious challenge is Deerklops in the early phase, a wrecked base can take 20 days or more to rebuild (especially when you're in the wrong season).
Most valuable item is (as always) the walking stick, and the essentials for the first winter are of course tents, thermal stones, beefalo hats and sewing kits. Miss any one of these and you workload goes up exponentially.
We are doing this scenario in a large world setting, doing long solo excursions to explore are tricky as its hard to pack enough gear and deal with hound attacks simultaneously. Players who focus on that too early risk working from an underdeveloped base which leads to trouble later when winter hits.
At the moment we have 4 dedicated players but the server has six slots, in the next week or two I hope to fill the last two.