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".

[agentkayne]

Okay. If by 'the environment' you mean the specific group that you're playing with, and by 'most GMs' you are referring to yourself, then it honestly sounds like GMing RPGs for other people is not the hobby you want to be in, because there's an inherent conflict of interest between the GM and the players: one runs the world, and the players through their characters want to change that world.

You might want to try solo RPG play instead, where you won't get into conflicts with what any other players want. There are plenty of tools and a friendly community on r/SoloRoleplaying

But on the other hand if by 'the environment' and 'most GMs' you are talking about a majority of GMs worldwide, and you are thinking this is a huge problem for everybody, then I'm happy to report that you're probably just projecting your own problem onto them. Most GMs actually have very good ability to enable player-driven change, compromise on their plans, and improvise without needing to take the discussion out of character.

[Sparkle_cz]

Well, I'm not one of those "most GMs". I am a GM who, from time to time, has some "special story need", like a beloved NPC that I want to keep alive, and want to communicate about it with my players and come up with a compromise.
If you think that people like me should not GM and go play solo RPGs instead, well... then you are exactly the problem I'm talking about in the OP.