@V2Blast I've got Kevin, Amanda's friend can't come and be Oceanus, Amanda prolly delayed by child, paging Jacob ...

@KorvinStarmast Replied to the roll20 forum post with the amounts of XP you said we got. BTW, Bron just hit level 4 after that fight - since we haven't long rested (though we're probably planning on taking a short rest at the start of the session, I think), I assume Bron's max HP would go up but his current HP stays at what it is after the fight?

@V2Blast Let me think about that. I don't usually do a level up until after a long rest but I may reconsider. Gimme a bit. I think I am doing something wrong fundamentally.

I was hoping for two encounters last night ... :(

@KorvinStarmast The only thing you did wrong was not giving me 18 extra XP a session earlier ;)

tbh the pacing issue was just because we spent a lot of time on housekeeping stuff/selling loot

regarding which, I do think you're sort of overcomplicating loot+selling it, in a sense. normally I'd just give exact gold values for basically all loot that has any monetary value right when the party gets it, and then it's easy to just add it all up and split it when the party gets back to town

rather than having variable values/ranges for some stuff, and other stuff that requires finding a specific seller (that approach makes sense for, like, a magic item or something similarly super-expensive/valuable - but it mostly just adds tedium for most mundane goods)

just my thoughts

my suggested solution above means that it takes minimal time to list out, and the adding up of gold is easily done between sessions without wasting time on, well, something I don't really find interesting at all (shopping/haggling/etc.)

Of course, I assume you probably have reasons for doing it the way you do that I'm not seeing :)

@V2Blast it was my desire that all of that be taken care of on the forum between sessions, but that simply isn't happening. the other piece of it is, 'normal' commerce at the moment is likely to start a riot. Were the mood of the town less of a mess, it would likely have taken place as you say.

something I don't really find interesting at all (shopping/haggling/etc.) Me either, however the organized way to deal with that is before I get "into role" and we'd already had the council meeting. did that take too long, in your estimation?

The disposition of the exotic weapons was supposed to be a part of the council meeting, but I felt as though it was dragging, and I wanted to move things forward. I thus had no interest in Ignaz wandering off to have a private meeting with Keledek

I'll send Jacob a PM and maybe do a retcon of a meeting with him and Keledek during the afternoon while you were all at the Wicker goat. Likewise for any of the party; we can flesh a few things out via retcon in PM between the town council meeting, the lunch you were served and the rest before the Keelboat Captain was ready for you.

I'll post that proposal tonight at the forum, and see if Laz wants to see his contact as well.

@KorvinStarmast I think the council meeting itself was pretty quick. the slowness/awkwardness there was mostly in trying to resolve the other stuff after council meeting but before leaving

and since we were literally (offered to be) escorted straight to the council meeting right after we docked, there was no real opportunity to do anything else before the meeting

@KorvinStarmast It wasn't at all obvious to me that it was intended that we resolve the selling of loot and all in the forum itself. what the post said about handling stuff between sessions was: "it would be nice to have a little interaction on RP stuff so that when we start, we can be moving into an adventure"... and I had no idea what that meant

Also, even if narratively "normal commerce" isn't happening, from a gameplay standpoint that doesn't prevent most buying/selling from being handwaved away and reduced to "remove X from your inventory, add Y gp instead"

TBH I wouldn't have minded a slower/more RP-focused session, since I haven't really gotten to know the party yet. I've basically had 1 session full of fights and 1 of looting, and now some shopping and more fighting :P

then again Amanda's only been there for like a session and a half (half of the first, plus the second) while I've been around, and Kevin's been there for the latter two, so mainly I kinda know Ignaz...

@V2Blast OK, great critique, good point in party integration. FWIW, my comments in that regard last night were mostly directed toward Jacob; I apologize if you felt they were headed your way. And that fact that I am not being clear in my points on the forum means I need to be much clearer and get some feedback from the group; same page and all that. But the amount of back and forth on the forum for this game is a whole lot less than we had in the previous two games.

Maybe the RL factors are creating a change.Thank you, excellent food for thought.

@V2Blast There was some opportunity as you all came in toward port for all three of you to discuss with each other what to do before the ship docked, and I basically saw no interaction. Maybe I should have done a better job of prompting you all in that regard ... hmmm. More food for thought.

Unfortunately for me, I was mostly focusing on "setting the scene" to reflect the significantly (bad) change in the mood in the town since you all discovered Darkeyes' death, the fist fight at the bridge, and the hanging and all of the rest, with the big signal/flag being used was the dwarves changed status, the Messages of "beware" and LT Knight's hard case attitude toward the crowd.

tbh I barely know what the town was like before Darkeyes' death, so... :P

@V2Blast Fishermen fished, miners mined, farmers farmed, merchants merched. Now and again a small band of adventurers might show up and head to the mansion, to be never heard from again. There's be a festival now and again, put on by (usually) the rich folks, and fetes put on once a quarter by Gellen Primewater.

Ships came in and out of the harbor to bring trade goods, and take some goods with them, very often dried or smoked fish. slomor's family has one of the more prosperous fish exporting businesses and owns two of the processing plants by the waterfront.

Now and again monsters from the Hool Marshes, or the Dread wood would be a problem and as often as not either adventurers, town guard, or more often the local marines, had to deal with them. (Hence your various missions leading up to meeting Ignaz, Laz, and Seven.