I've seen this proposed on BGG. Does anyone play like that? Instead of starting the game at the Mythos phase, why not start it at the Arkham Encounters phase? Makes sense thematically, I think. All investigators begin their adventure at a certain location for a reason. Why not let them have an encounter on Turn 0? Some investigators will have a clear advantage over others, obviously(say, the Photographer).
Having encounters in starting locations
I have also seen this proposed here before, I see no reason not to if you want.
Well, thematically, I see the investigators getting involved BECAUSE of the first mythos. They're just going through their standard routines until, all of a sudden, weird things start happening and they begin investigating.
yes that is a variant tht is used to imprved the number of stable encounters. I included it into "A shadow from the past", a guardian you can see at:
best