doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
This isn't quite true. I've very different behavior from the same DM in different iterations of dnd, and with different group expectations, too many times to leave this unchallenged.Societal pressures, otherwise known as the social contract have already failed if the DM is abusing his power. Making new rules won't change someone like that.
Many DMs simply assume that their word is law, and that's it, and that if they bend on that the game will (somehow, magically) not work. Not because they're abusing their (granted by the will of the group) authority, but because that is how they were taught to DM. When presented with, say, the rules of 4e, I have seen at least half a dozen DMs change how they DM, because the rules tell them they can just relax and say yes, and that the players are important, too. Those DM have nearly all stuck with the new paradigm they discovered with 4e, because both they and thier players had more fun that way.
The rules absolutely can and do push DMs and players toward certain behaviors over others.