Investigation Board

A Foundry VTT module that lets everyone create, edit, and move sticky and photo notes on the scene. A must-have for investigative games like City of Mist, Call of Cthulhu, and all your conspiracy adventures.

NEW FEATURE >> Extra Fonts: Typewriter & Special Elite

Added these two new fonts as options. Also fixed a bug that prevented fonts to load on systems that not have them installed locally.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO ↓

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9d578c0b-380e-4942-91fc-0a43d6c27296

NEW FEATURE >> Note Colors:

Sticky notes now have color options. You can also choose the ink color for any note. Included options in game settings to let each player set their own default color set.

NEW FEATURE >> Handout Notes from Images in Journals:

Journals, specially the ones containing adventures can be full of images. Now instead of just showing the pretty images to the players you can pass them around as handout notes.

NEW FEATURE >> Handout Notes from Clipboard buffer:

If you Ctrl+C an area in your screen and Ctrl+V while in Drawing mode a note will appear. Even better, if you copy an image file in your file explorer and Control+V in canvas a note will be created with the correct transparency set if the image has transparency.

NEW FEATURE >> Automatic Scene Scale:

The module now automatically adapts to your map size. Whether you are on a small 1280px map or a massive 5000px scene, your notes, pins, and yarn connections will stay proportional. You can even set a global multiplier if you want them a bit larger or smaller on all maps.

NEW FEATURE >> Rapid Connection Creation:

Speed up your board building! While dragging a yarn connection (after clicking a pin):

• Left-Click anywhere on the background to instantly create a new Pin and connect it.
• Right-Click anywhere on the background to open a quick menu and create any note type (Sticky, Photo, Index, etc.) already connected to your path.
• Clicking on another's note pin will connect both, as usual.

NEW FEATURE >> Only Pins:

We reach the peak: we are now able to create only pins and connections. Its practically Zen at this point.

NEW FEATURE >> Create photo notes from Folder:

You can now create photo notes from all items on a folder. It ignores subfolders, if you want to import a subfolder right-click on it and import. it works for Scenes, Actors, Items and Playlits.

NEW FEATURE >> Notes From Items:

You can now create photo notes from items too. They will be automatically linked to them.

NEW FEATURE >> Old Tape Sound Effects:

Now you can activate a sound effect filter to make the audio even more immersive. This option is on by default in all Media notes created. Remember to edit and uncheck if you want the original audio.

NEW FEATURE >> Connecting Notes:

Click on a pin, click on the other. That's it.

Connecting lines will always have the player's Foundry color initially. You can change it in the Edit menu.

REMEMBER: YOU NEED TO BE IN DRAW MODE TO MAKE ALL OF THIS

How to Use

Open the Drawing Tools Toolbar in the scene controls. You will find several custom buttons to populate your board:

Note Types

• Sticky Note: Classic square notes for quick clues or short text.
• Photo Note: Polaroid-style frames. Perfect for suspects, locations, or evidence.
• Index Card: Larger lined cards for more detailed notes or descriptions.
• Handout: Image-only notes like maps, pictures, or documents.
• Media (Cassette): Visual representation for audio recordings.
• Pin Only: creates a single pin that can be connect to any note and be linked to an object. Access the link by right clicking on it (Open option, Edit to create the Linked Reference).

Scene in Compendiums

Don't have a scene? Don't worry, you can use this corkboard scene for starters. Import it in your level and knock yourself out!

Interaction & Linking

• Double Click: Opens the Note Previewer, a high-resolution view of the note and its contents.
• Edit & Drag: Move notes around by selecting them. Note that you must be in the Drawing Tools layer to manipulate notes.
• Linked Objects: You can drag and drop Actors, Items, Journal Pages, or Scenes directly onto a note (or into its configuration sheet) to link them. This creates a clickable reference in the note's preview for quick access.
• Context Menu (Right-Click): Right-clicking any note opens a custom menu allowing you to:
  • Edit: Open the configuration sheet.
  • View: Open the high-res preview.
  • Play for Me/All: (Media notes only) Local or global audio playback.
  • Remove Connections: Quickly clear all yarn lines attached to the note.
  • Open Link: Directly open the linked document if one exists.
  • Delete: Remove the note from the board.

Directory Integration

You can quickly create notes directly from your Foundry sidebars by right-clicking documents:

• Actors: Create a Photo Note using the actor's portrait. You can choose to use the actor's name or create an "Unknown" version.
• Scenes: Create a Photo Note using the scene's thumbnail.
• Items: Create a Photo Note using the item name and thumbnail.
• Playlists: Right-click a sound to create a Media Note pre-linked to that audio file.
• Journals: Right-click any Image Page within a journal to transform it into a Handout.

Note for Players: If the GM has granted you drawing and file upload permissions, you can autonomously create Handout notes from Image Pages in the Journal directory to share evidence with the group!

Permissions Note: Only the GM can assign images to photo notes from the file system unless players are given browser file permissions.

Module Settings

• Automatic Scale per Scene: When enabled, the module automatically calculates the best scale based on the background image width.
• Scene Scale / Multiplier: A fixed scale for elements (if Auto-Scale is OFF) or a global multiplier (if Auto-Scale is ON) to fine-tune the size on all maps.
• Pin Color: Choose a fixed color for your pins (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green), set it to 'Random' for each new note, or 'No Pins' to hide them.
• Connection Line Width: Sets the default thickness of the connection yarn (default is 7).
• Note Widths: Configure the default pixel width for Sticky Notes, Photo Notes, Index Cards, and Handouts.
• Base Font Size: Sets the starting font size for text on your notes.
• Font: Choose between several thematic fonts like Rock Salt or Courier New.
• Character Name Key: For photo notes created from Actors, this defines which data field to use for the name (e.g., prototypeToken.name or system.alias for systems like Blades in the Dark).
• Default Note Texts: Set the placeholder text for each new note type (Sticky, Photo, Index, Media).
• Show Setup Warning: Toggle the reminder for GMs about player permissions for drawings and file uploads.

Installation

To install this module, in Foundry VTT go to the Add-on Modules tab:

Search in the top bar for "investigation board" and click Install

OR

Click Install Module

Paste the following manifest URL into the bottom Manifest URL field:

https://github.com/mordachai/investigation-board/releases/latest/download/module.json

After that go to your world and enable the module in your Game Settings under Manage Modules

Compatibility

• Foundry VTT v13.x (minimum v13.332)
• For Foundry v12.x, please use module version 1.3.2 (has a lot less features)