When we play we go through the item deck removing items not from the sets we intend to play with. (As we do for mythos, locations ect).

We do this with everything except the monsters, which are too much hassle to bother with in that way since they're not expansion marked.

What I'm wondering is if other people differ on this? Do some of you keep all the items in the game? I ask because it doesn't seem like it would have that much effect one way or the other. How do others feel about it?

Everyone has their own ways of playing. For me, I remove everything (including monsters) from expansions I'm not playing with. It's actually kinda fun removing the expansion components from every deck.

Note, I've marked the monsters from the expansions with a symbol, different for each expansion.

Rapier said:

I keep everything in. Big thing is the dilution of Elder Signs, which I feel is an absolute MUST. 4 in 39 cards with just base, 4 in 98 with my setup, 5 in 110 if KH were in the mix as well. Odds go down from 1 in 10 to 1 in 24 (for my setup).

most people just leave them all in, if you draw a card thats non usable just draw again

I sort out Mythos, OW, Locations and Allies according to expansions we play with. But I keep in everything else (items, spells and skills). I don't sort Monsters as it's too big a hassle. Obviously stuff like Injury and Madness are always in.

The only thing I sort is Mythos. I seldom play more than 2 expansions at a time based on their Mythos cards. The monsters are stronger from the expansions but the expansions also give you stronger ways to deal with them, so I think that's as balanced as anything else in Arkham Horror.

Knuckles Eki said:

On a scale from 1 to 10, how much fun is cleaning out the grout in your bathroom?

avec said:

Heretic! Mythos Lover! How does Arkham Horror have in common with a bathroom?

I usually sort out everything. The one exception is if I want to try certain combinations of Heralds, Guardians and Ancient Ones. I've also sometimes used investigators from different expansions.

I sort out the mythos and other world encounter cards. Al though it occurs to me that I should probably not bother with other world cards to enhance the variety factor.

Knuckles Eki said:

I swear the thing that grows from my toilet whispers eldritch secrets to me at nights. From its looks, I'd say it came from Yuggoth.

-Villain