I know that I just made another topic asking a few other questions, but I didn't want to make that post longer than it already was. This question is also a little more in depth and could open up a bit of discussion, so I thought a separate post wouldn't be a bad idea.

Somehow over my few years of playing Arkham, my games have kind of melded the Movement Phase together, allowing all players to more or less move at the same time.

I think that this was done as a way to keep things moving smoothly. Things can be a little tedious when you need to wait for the First Player to make up their mind on their move when you simply just want to move to the General Store. In order to alleviate these frustrations, my games have kind of evolved so that all players move at the same time.

Because of this, things evolved in such a way that a strong player could move into a street area and kill a monster that was in it so other players could move through the space without fear. Also, this allows for a much easier time to trade items with other players. As long as your two characters overlap on one space during either of your movements in Arkham, you may trade between each other, rather than one player having to end his movement somewhere and another player needing to reach them.

I feel that playing the game like this makes things feel as if these events really are happening at the same time. Players are moving around the board together, sharing items, killing monsters, and sharing the board as one, rather than going player by player and making things feel more disjointed.

So, my question basically is: do you think this is unfair? Do you think it's fair?

Honestly, after doing this for so long, I forgot that the movement phase is supposed to be done player by player. I've always had a feeling that maybe we shouldn't be playing like that, but it just felt so natural and good.

I'd love to open this discussion up to you other Arkhamites and see if anyone else plays like I do. We still perform all encounters in the appropriate order, it's just the Upkeep and Movement phases where we all essentially go at the same time.

Thoughts?

I think the greatest part of a winning strategy in Arkham Horror lies all in the Upkeep and the Movement phase. They allow players countless interactions and provide different ways to deal with monsters and trading, and changing the rules for these phases bends the game in directions very different from the intended, possibly resulting also in a change of balance.

So, I'd rule against any houserule altering these elements. This said, a game is about fun, so that if you like the game more this way, hey, you're free to change

You make a fair point, Julia! For our game tonight, I'll let the guys know that I messed up and we'll give the real Movement Phase a shot!

Nice In case you don't like that, you can always return to your previous houserule Let us know how you like it!