Thanks for the feedback, all.
I did reset adventures while in the inn (patched game, for reference), but after I started playing, I noticed little things, like the treasure chests were open from the first crew, boxes and crates were already smashed, and so on. Then I noticed that I didn't get some of the quests (like Mon the Sculz) and the lizard creepy didn't question me about Gareth when I left Valeia. Perhaps I did the reset wrong (and I did look in the manual, but couldn't find anything more than "reset adventure"), or perhaps I needed to remove all characters from the first party before creating a second party.
As for the quests, I know I can look in my journal, see who I talked to, and see if they've got an open quest for me. What I miss is something like MM6 through MM8, where there's a quest tab that shows me all open quests (and preferably with the quest givers, as well). The journal shows me that, but since it doesn't remove old quests, I had to sort through everyone I ever talked to and any quest they may have ever given me. That got irritating after a while... if there's a better way, pray enlighten me.
And I do plan on playing again, if I can find a way to play a full game (not replay, like it seems now). I've ruled out "cheating" by grabbing a character from the first party and have him or her do it all over again, and I'd rather have the new characters able to do everything, not just pick over the old remnants.
Like I meant to say, a fun game and an enjoyable way to spend a large number of hours. First time is always the hardest; they always get easier after you know the answers.