Spending Checks on activities for the next mission

[Totally Guy]

I ran a game a while back and I never got around to asking this question, it's not a biggie.

What should the GM do if, on the Player turn, the players suggest spending their checks to carry out the exact tasks planned for the next GM's turn?

We had a suituation where the parol would have needed to test an appropriate skill to allow the box they were transporting to be modified to traverse snow. But the players chose to do this on thier turn by spending their checks.

Consequently I simply bypassed that obstacle on the GM's go.

But thinking back they could have got better value from the check if I'd have said, "hold your horses, we'll get to that".

[luke]

It's their right to tackle that problem as they see fit on their turn.

Happens all the time in my games. Frees me up for more GMT madness!

[Totally Guy]

But if you get to do that then spending the checks in that way is not advisable. So it would better to spend them on something personal to the character or player.

Wait...

You planned that didn't you? It feeds back the desired behaviour to encourage the player to concentrate on character driven activities. Yet I can still see reason for the players wanting to spend their checks on mission activities.

[luke]

I see it differently. I see it as a way for the player to definitively drive the narrative in a direction of his choice rather than be at the mercy of the whims of the GM.

But it can go either way.
-L