What all needs to be removed? I currenlty cleanse the mythos deck and the gate deck of any expansions I'm not using. But I leave the investigator cards. Should I not? Is it work cleaning up those decks too?

I also allow all the investigator's except the sailor. If you aren't using innsmouth his draw back never takes effect, and if you don't have kingsport, he's completely useless.

What are your thoughts?

Well, taking Silas out is a bit of a mixed bag. There aren't that many aquatic locations (though I houseruled 2 spots in Dunwich), so that sorta balances out his lack of possible Innsmouth Look cards. However, he basically gets to travel from town-to-town for free. So if you feel this is too powerful (especially since he gets a bonus to his Focus), then you can certainly leave him out.

I, personally, would leave in the gate cards, too, if I were playing with certain expansions. Either that or take out both the gate cards and the location encounters. But yes, taking out the Mythos expansion cards is almost a must. I still leave all the investigators, Heralds (that are still usable), AOs, and investigator cards.

I'd say you can use Silas without too many problems. It's true that only when playing Innsmouth you have the risk of drawing an Innsmouth look card, but it's also true that it's on the Innsmouth board that Silas is really powerfull (his ability to swim to Devil reef is something *great*), so he shouldn't break the game. And remember one of his greatest drawbacks is that he's devoured upon entering R'lyeh. Thus there is always a risk component while playing with him.

As for your other question... I always have all location and small cards mixed in, but I use only gate & mythos from the expansions in play. It works well. For me, at least

This is pretty much what I do, too. I separate the Mythos and Gate decks, but nothing else.

Leaving in all the investigator cards & monsters (other than Spawn, of course) does mean that the resulting game is a bit harder than a base Arkham Horror game, for two reasons:

1.) The Unique Item deck is diluted there are still only 4 Elder Signs, but they're now buried in a much larger deck so you're less likely to see them.
2.) The monster cup seems to have a higher percentage of nasty things (Goat Spawn, Colors out of Space, Mummies, etc.) than a base game does. Expansions don't add a lot of Cultists and Maniacs to the cup. :-)

Leaving in the Locations does mean that sometimes I draw one that's not applicable, and when that happens I discard & redraw. For example, in a base game, getting a Rail Pass is pointless.

LordZon said:

Sounds like a great idea, as that's what I basically do. In the case of investigator cards, more randomness is better! Plus, those elder signs would be more difficult to get, and the lame Kingsport common items would both increase the difficulty of the game as well.

That being said, is there an expansion that can always be left with the main game.

I do not want to constantly remove cards.

Thanks in advance for the input

STEMALO said:

if you had to choose between one of them which one would it be?

Any of the non-board expansions can easily be used with everything else, since they only refer to the base board.

Or...all of them. If you come upon a Mythos card that refers to Dunwich, and you're just playing at Kingsport, ignore it and draw again. MUCH easier than sorting the cards time and time again.

STEMALO said:

I agree. Lurker is better than Black Goat almost all-round. But both can be integrated into your base set without changing the game's thematic flavor much. Plus, they both have gate bursts !

Lurker has the universal new gates and Relationship cards. Black Goat's universal pieces are nine Shub-themed monsters.

EcnoTheNeato said:

What about the unique items, spells, etc... will they also affect the gameplay? should we also discard them?

Most people mix in those as well. None make any reference to something that would be irrelevant if you play without a specific board or mechanic. Again, it's up to you if you want a truly thematic game and only play with Dark Pharaoh gear/encounters/mythos (so you can re-draw if you get one that's another expansion), or you can just put it all together and not worry about sorting or redrawing for the Investigator cards.

STEMALO said:

Choose Lurker. Black Goat doesn't add much to the game, to say the least.

mi-go hunter said:

Only the best official Herald so far, when used RAW that is .