My Bluff Was Called

I make no effort to keep up with the products coming down the pipe over at the Wizards of the Coast, but the players in my D&D campaign do. And sometimes they want to incorporate into their PC some new megapower in the latest hardback. I think that my game is pretty loosey-goosey as it is, seeing as I allow pretty much all the material in the core books, the Complete series, the Miniatures Handbook, and some goodies from Unearthed Arcana. But I told the group, half in jest, that if they bought me a copy of another Wizards product then I would allow it in my campaign. Well last night it happened. Doug handed me a spanking new copy of the Spell Compendium. The game was derailed for a while as the party magic-flingers re-examined their spell loadouts. Boy, were they happy to get some new toys to play with! Like kids in a candy store. For my part I regret nothing. I haven't known exactly what weird powers the PCs could manifest for pretty much the entire duration of the campaign. One more book of spells I haven't read isn't going to do much to widen this ignorance. I know some GMs think it's important to know the full capabilities of the PCs. Those people won't be surprised and delighted by their players nearly as often as I am. Besides, I'm too damn lazy to read all those character sheets.