At 1:36 -0400 9/10/08, DMG and Gavatar sparred:
DMG ... Even though our game defines it as the willful suspension of disbelief. This is not too much to ask of your players, and they will grant it willingly. But far more often all I see are GMs abusing their players with new rules. "Ok guys here are your own photocopies breaking down the new DX rules.`` A bunch of players shifting uncomfortably and wondering why they are being punished. Instead of allowed to play. GG ... I suppose it depends upon the players, and the rules being played, and the proposed changes. In many cases, the scenario you describe is referred to as "Play-Testing". At the very worst, it can be considered "Birthing Pains".
When a GM imposes lots of new rules, it rankles. In our group, the new rules often flow up from the players. That seems OK, with the caveat the the GM has to think carefully to avoid "creating a monster" (for example, a group of players proposing the "Gate" spell would have been denied instantly in my world...).
David's point about the quality of the experience being independent of the rules seems to me to be the most critical. Word Value, or I would even say Image Value. Talin (just last night, playing with the kids) charged toward the last survivor of a group of Wights. Ho-hum, plain tactics, nothing to get excited over. I took just a moment to visualize the scene:
The dwarf, screaming insults at the undead archer, pounding his chest, clanks forward at full tilt! "You can't hit me! You're a wimpy wighty! Nyah, nyah!" And as he gets within 4 hexes, he draws his arm back and flings his small axe! With its Light spell, it cuts a coruscating, sparkling spiral through the air toward the archer! Final oblivion stares the archer in the face! OK, who does he shoot at? ;-)
Of course, I missed :-( , but the image was worth it. The kids' faces lit up as they imagined it. One even commented, "boy, I wish we could get video of our battles."
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