Greetings and Salutations. I take it by "Precognition" you mean Clairvoyance? If I'm missing a power named Precognition somewhere, please tell me a book and page (I checked PF2 and RGMG and didn't see any powers by that name). I'll respond with believing you're referring to Clairvoyance (and hope I'm not wasting my time).
Talking about making a vision obsolete sounds like you're falling into the pitfall of revealing too much information (which the G.M. note at the end of the power tells you not to do). The trick is to keep it vague. If you keep it vague, the players can't make it obsolete (because you just work it into whatever is going on). Brevity will help keep it vague (the longer the vision is the more detailed it becomes and the harder it'll be to work). However, I'll try to discuss a few scenarios and possible ways to handle it. If these don't solve your problems, maybe you can give me an example of what your players are doing.
1: Scenario from the book, Janet in danger. My guess is that the players will do something simple like find Janet and sit on her until the danger passes. Problem solved. Unless of course they just don't even try to help Janet, in which case it doesn't sound like they care much (and probably shouldn't have had the vision in the first place).
Solution: They try to find Janet, but she's already gone. It's only midday, so she can't be in danger yet (sunset), but ... that doesn't mean events aren't already in motion. Maybe they just keep missing her (especially if other things keep getting in their way to slow them down!), or maybe they DO find her early (in danger) and they help. During the commotion she run off (scared and instinctive "flight" response ... and now they STILL have to chase her again because she's just about to run out in front of that car/truck/bus.
2: Instead of Janet being in danger, the player characters sense themselves in danger on some street corner. Hey, they'll just stay in the whole day, can't get them then, right?
Solution: Janet suddenly calls, and she's in trouble and needs their help. Sure, they can stay in the house ... but then Janet may end up dead instead (consequences have actions!). If they care (and we shouldn't be using Janet if they don't), they'll have to go out to find her (or think of alternate solutions, but make them work for it!). Hey, she's entirely on the other side of town, no big deal, right? Well, one things leads to another, a high speed chase later, and what do you know? There's that street corner. >_<
3: Instead of just using visuals, you can get creative. Maybe it's dark, too dark to make out anything, but there's a scent in the air and the sound of a gunshot and an explosion. If the character goes out somewhere, maybe something happens and it becomes really dark. They detect that same scent and notice a huge propane tank near them. Gun shot and explosion means run now! But hey, if they stayed home in the house ... power outage and it's really dark. What's that smell? Is that a gas leak? O_O This is a matter of giving little clues and filling in the blanks when the time arrives.
4: Your option doesn't sound bad. Really it feels more like the first option (you just get a sudden sense that you need to see Janet now!). No visual or other sensory clues, just a feeling. Translating it into what you suggested feels rather natural (to me).
You can also keep them guessing and mix it up. Don't let them get used to one trick. Sometimes they have no clues to work with (until the time comes), sometimes events are already set in motion, and then other times just have multiple scenarios where the same vision works. Anyways, just a few thoughts off the top of my head. Hope that helps. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys to all.
Talking about making a vision obsolete sounds like you're falling into the pitfall of revealing too much information (which the G.M. note at the end of the power tells you not to do). The trick is to keep it vague. If you keep it vague, the players can't make it obsolete (because you just work it into whatever is going on). Brevity will help keep it vague (the longer the vision is the more detailed it becomes and the harder it'll be to work). However, I'll try to discuss a few scenarios and possible ways to handle it. If these don't solve your problems, maybe you can give me an example of what your players are doing.
1: Scenario from the book, Janet in danger. My guess is that the players will do something simple like find Janet and sit on her until the danger passes. Problem solved. Unless of course they just don't even try to help Janet, in which case it doesn't sound like they care much (and probably shouldn't have had the vision in the first place).
Solution: They try to find Janet, but she's already gone. It's only midday, so she can't be in danger yet (sunset), but ... that doesn't mean events aren't already in motion. Maybe they just keep missing her (especially if other things keep getting in their way to slow them down!), or maybe they DO find her early (in danger) and they help. During the commotion she run off (scared and instinctive "flight" response ... and now they STILL have to chase her again because she's just about to run out in front of that car/truck/bus.
2: Instead of Janet being in danger, the player characters sense themselves in danger on some street corner. Hey, they'll just stay in the whole day, can't get them then, right?
Solution: Janet suddenly calls, and she's in trouble and needs their help. Sure, they can stay in the house ... but then Janet may end up dead instead (consequences have actions!). If they care (and we shouldn't be using Janet if they don't), they'll have to go out to find her (or think of alternate solutions, but make them work for it!). Hey, she's entirely on the other side of town, no big deal, right? Well, one things leads to another, a high speed chase later, and what do you know? There's that street corner. >_<
3: Instead of just using visuals, you can get creative. Maybe it's dark, too dark to make out anything, but there's a scent in the air and the sound of a gunshot and an explosion. If the character goes out somewhere, maybe something happens and it becomes really dark. They detect that same scent and notice a huge propane tank near them. Gun shot and explosion means run now! But hey, if they stayed home in the house ... power outage and it's really dark. What's that smell? Is that a gas leak? O_O This is a matter of giving little clues and filling in the blanks when the time arrives.
4: Your option doesn't sound bad. Really it feels more like the first option (you just get a sudden sense that you need to see Janet now!). No visual or other sensory clues, just a feeling. Translating it into what you suggested feels rather natural (to me).
You can also keep them guessing and mix it up. Don't let them get used to one trick. Sometimes they have no clues to work with (until the time comes), sometimes events are already set in motion, and then other times just have multiple scenarios where the same vision works. Anyways, just a few thoughts off the top of my head. Hope that helps. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys to all.
