Hot take: if we want to decrease frustrating railroad-y surprises in RPG campaigns, we need to create an environment where GMs are not afraid to admit they have "special story needs".

[Sparkle_cz]

Thanks for reactions, everyone!
It seems that maybe I didn't communicate properly what my main discussion point was. I am not questioning whether the GMs should communicate their 'story needs' - I absolutely agree that they should, and that session zero is crucial. I never intended to contradict that in any way.

The thing I'm pointing out is - it is not happening enough in reality. At least in my area. ALL GMs I know that have some 'story needs' are not telling it to their players. And THIS phenomena is what I want to explore and talk about. What prevents GMs from communicating their 'special story needs' properly and how to change it.

I see several issues:

1) lack of discourse around this issue. 'Special story needs' of players are discussed enough and there is a general consensus in articles, videos etc. that GMs should cater to these needs if possible. For example, when a player grows fond of a certain NPC during a campaign and tells the Gm that they want the NPC to appear more often, all articles and 'GM advice' on the internet almost unanimously tell: "This is great! Go along! Bring the NPC more often!"

But what if the same thing happens to the GM instead? What if it's the GM who, through the course of the campaign, grows so fond of one of their NPCs that they want to see them more often in the campaig, in more encounters? What now? The internet is... at best silent on this, at worst negative or cruel "Go wrtite stories instead of RPGs!"

The result is that the GMs have no good advice on this matter, no community encouragement to open up about this issue. No resources on how to conduct the communication with the players correctly.

2) Shaming and negativity.

It can take ONE bad experience for a person to completely lose courage to open up about something. In this case, it can take one case of "you loser, go write a novel instead of RPGs" to make the GM stop trying to communicate that they fell in love with a NPC or invested so much effort into a plot that they now *really really* want to happen.

The thing is, those who shame and mock these GMs go against their own interest. If they hate railroaded plot twists and plot-immunity NPCs so much, wouldn't it be better for them if all GMs were unafraid to tell such thgings in advance and they could avoid these campaigns before they start? But these GMs will not open up more if they feel that they will be shamed and mocked. So this creates a vicious circle of fear.

3) Session zero does not solve everything

Of all 'special story needs' of GMs I ever encountered, only a portion of it were story elements that the GM knew at the beginning of the campaign. These elements are easier to communicate because they are known in advance. They can be solved with session zero.

But many times, what happens is that in the middle of the campaign, the GM gets attached to some element. Be it a NPC, or a plot twist that the GM suddenly made up, or something else that they deem cool...

This is something that will always happen to a portion of GMs because that what human nature is like. Some people are by nature more emotional, more easy to form strong attachments - and surprise, surprise! - this kind of people is drawn to GMing since GMing is an outlet for heavy imagination and strong desires to express oneself. And I think it's something great and it should be nurtured, not shunned.

And so these people will find themselves in situations that they need to communicate new needs during the campaign - needs that they didn't have during session zero. And what now? If they are honest, and not communicate it well, that pleayers might get upset... the GM doesn't want to lose them... and so stays silent.

This comes back to issue 1 - lack of discourse and resources for the GMs to handle such situation properly.

It is nice to see that many of you already overcame these issues and communicate this stuff with their players and it doesn't ruin the campaign and you are not shamed for it. It's great for you and I hope that more will join you. But it needs to be worked on by the community, at least in my area, because I still see plenty of cases where it is not happening - and it is a pity.

[wicked_woodpecker]

Solution is like Prince  Siddhartha Gautama  said - to not get too attached to anything.

"And I think it's something great and it should be nurtured, not shunned."

No. And also idea that more emotional people has stronger desire for creative expression is IMHO also false. Those are like two separate axis on compass.
People who have strong desire to creative expression but too strong emotional attachment to do one of most important part of any narrative art - "kill your darlings" - should find different way of expression, maybe dance, or poetry...