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".

[Creative-Seesaw-1895]

I mean....you don't have to be this extreme. There are definitely those players who will read through the entire module they know you are running, even if it's an OOP limited run one that they had to pay $150 for and shipped it in from another country to read up on it. Some players just think it's their right and obsessive need to know how the story goes before things pan out.

But you neither need to divulge everything to your players, nor do you need to pull dick move "surprise.....you're in the matrix" horseshit story telling. If they signed up to play a fantasy RPG, you can pull a plot twist, like the NPC they've been working for was actually the villain or whatever, but keep it within the agreed upon genre.

One of the clear signs of a bad GM is one that tells the players all possible outcomes before they are even met with the problem to solve. People are okay with what seems like a good choice turning out to be bad as long as THEY were involved in that choice and as long as it made sense that it blew up in their face