Lol...Saint, it's almost like you're gunning for me, man...knocking Hackmaster. The nerve...
I've been playing in a sanctioned bi-weekly Hackmaster campaign for the last six months and have been having an absolute blast, as many here know. But how can this be given my arguments about GM freedom above.
The difference is Hackmaster's attitude. It has carries on a soul and spirit that was present in other editions and not in 3E. And it makes no bones about how it should be played. You play by the rules or you're not playing Hackmaster. Period. None of the wishy-washy "I'm going to give the players lots and lots of options and power and let the GM limit them." Restrictions are in place. The GM is firmly in control. The player problem in 3E comes from the fact that lots of players don't heed the restrictions a DM will put on them or that the DM isn't experienced enough to know what to limit and is too entrenched to change things without upsetting the players.
No, Hackmaster is fun BECAUSE of the meta-game. The GM vs. the players mentality. Finding loopholes and advantages in a huge set of rules is part of the fun, but the player's only have the illusion of power. The GM is god. This is all beside the point though.
Saint, it sounds like you have some exceptional players and you should be happy you have them. While my usual group deserves that compliment also, I have found in running and playing demo games and one shots that 3E brings out the power gamer in people. And the system supports it. It's become worse than it was in the late 2E period where we had all the "Guide to..." books. Since the rules system is so easily abused and so difficult to modify the way I like, I choose to play another game.
I'm not saying 3E isn't a good game. It's just not the game for me anymore. It wouldn't be the top selling game since it was released if there wasn't something there that people liked. I gave it 2 years and 3 campaigns. It can ask little more for me.
@Brian: First, welcome to the forum!
Second, its pretty cool that you're running d20 modern without the books. You'll have to keep us up to date on how that turns out. Again though, this is not the kind of modification I'm talking about being unbalancing. Adding feats, skills, prestige classes, and new magic is what the system is built for. I'm talking about subtraction and replacement. Try removing feats. Or skills. The older game systems were extremely simple to heavily modify without the game balance crumbling. 3E isn't.
...And I sound like a broken record...