Press Kit - Fantasy Grounds VTT

Factsheet

Description

Fantasy Grounds is a powerful virtual tabletop for running tabletop RPG campaigns—online or in person. It gives Game Masters and players everything they need to prepare, run, and manage adventures with ease, from fully-automated rules support to rich visual tools for maps, combat, and storytelling.

Fantasy Grounds also serves as a complete creation platform. Users can build their own adventures, maps, images, and game content directly inside the software. Combine art assets, modify existing images, create custom maps, build encounters, place monsters, and even generate procedural content using random tables and dynamic story templates. You can create new NPCs, items, classes, spells, or modify official ones—and then export your work as a complete module.

All exported creations can be shared freely or sold on the FG Forge, our tightly integrated community marketplace, where updates are automatically delivered whenever you update Fantasy Grounds. Creators don’t have to chase down compatibility fixes or manage external downloads—everything just works.

Fantasy Grounds includes advanced built-in automation to speed up gameplay without relying on fragile community extensions. Combat, spell effects, conditions, targeting, visibility, and more are handled natively, keeping your group focused on play rather than rule lookups.

The visual experience is equally flexible. Switch seamlessly between traditional top-down views and our unique 2.5D “tabletop-like” perspective, giving players an immersive sense of depth not available in other virtual tabletops.

Hosting games is simple with cloud-based networking—no port forwarding or complex setup required. Just choose “Create Campaign,” invite your friends, and play.

Fantasy Grounds also includes the Fantasy Grounds Online Reader, a browser-based way to read purchased modules from any device. Over 2,000 modules are already available in the Beta launch, with more content added weekly. Module purchases instantly unlock access in both the VTT and the Online Reader, making it easy to prepare or reference adventure material anywhere.

Whether you’re running your weekly game night, building an entire campaign world, or publishing your own RPG content, Fantasy Grounds gives you all the tools to bring your adventures to life.

Features

Powerful Tools for Game Masters

• Prepare, run, and manage full RPG campaigns—online or in person—using built-in tools for maps, encounters, combat, NPCs, items, story-building, and more.

• Cloud-based hosting makes running online games effortless: no port forwarding or technical setup required.

Advanced Built-In Automation

• Apply damage, effects, conditions, spell targeting, visibility changes, and saving throws with a single click.

• Automation is native, stable, and maintained by the core system — no dependency on fragile community plugins.

Flexible Visual Play Spaces

• Use traditional top-down tactical maps or instantly switch to Fantasy Grounds’ unique 2.5D “tabletop” view for a more immersive presentation.

• Dynamic lighting, vision, LoS, and fog-of-war enhance tactical play across supported rulesets.

Integrated Creation Tools

• Build your own maps, images, and visual assets directly inside Fantasy Grounds.

• Combine art packs, modify existing images, add lighting and walls, and export your creations.

• Create full adventure modules: link story entries to maps, place encounters, build tables, and craft dynamic generators using Story Templates.

Content Authoring for Any RPG

• Create or customize your own NPCs, classes, spells, items, equipment, monsters, and more.

• Mix homebrew content with official rulesets seamlessly.

Module Export & Publishing

• Export any content you create into standalone modules for personal use, sharing with friends, or selling on the FG Forge community marketplace.

• The FG Forge integrates directly into Fantasy Grounds—automatic updates reach users instantly.

Massive Library of Official Content

• Access thousands of officially licensed rulebooks, adventures, bestiaries, art packs, and accessories from leading publishers.

• Optional purchases enhance play but are not required to use the free Fantasy Grounds software.

Fantasy Grounds Online Reader

• Read purchased modules through any web browser—phone, tablet, laptop, anywhere.

• Over 2,000 modules available in the Beta launch, with more added weekly.

• Module purchases unlock content simultaneously in both the VTT and the Online Reader.

Cross-Platform Support

• Available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Steam with full feature parity.

History

Fantasy Grounds has been a leader in virtual tabletop technology for over two decades, continually evolving to support modern RPG play and the needs of both GMs and creators.

• 2004 — Fantasy Grounds is founded.
  The first version launches as one of the earliest virtual tabletops, offering remote tabletop play long before mainstream adoption.

• 2009 — New Ownership.
  Doug Davison purchases the company and then recruits John Gregory to join as co-owner in January 2010. New ownership immediately begins increasing licensing partnerships and pioneers the VTT space for well-known RPG publishers and game systems (Savage Worlds, Call of Cthulhu, Basic Roleplaying (BRP), Rolemaster Classic, Castles & Crusades).

• 2014 — SmiteWorks USA, LLC expands Fantasy Grounds to Steam.
  Fantasy Grounds (Classic) launches on Steam.

• 2015 — Fantasy Grounds becomes the first officially licensed VTT for Dungeons & Dragons
  SmiteWorks releases broad official support for D&D fifth edition, proving the marketplace for VTT content among the largest publishers.

• 2017 — Fantasy Grounds provides officially licensed VTT content for Pathfinder RPG
  SmiteWorks begins releasing official content for Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG system.

• 2018 — Fantasy Grounds provides officially licensed VTT content for additional systems
  SmiteWorks begins releasing official content for Paizo’s Starfinder RPG system, Pathfinder 2 RPG, and Mongoose Publishing’s Traveller RPG system.

• 2019 — Fantasy Grounds adds official support for Goodman Games and D&D Classics
  Fantasy Grounds begins providing official content for Dungeon Crawl Classics and other fan-favourite product lines from Goodman Games. At the same time, SmiteWorks get approval to begin converting and releasing Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition and 2nd edition (AD&D) modules.

• 2020 — Fantasy Grounds Unity releases.
  Rebuilt in Unity, this modern version introduces improved performance, better networking, dynamic lighting, vision, and a foundation for future features and automation.

• 2021 — Fantasy Grounds Forge is launched for community developers and Indie creators
  The FG Forge provides an easy self-publishing platform for use by community developers and Indie RPG creators to sell or freely distribute their creations. The system integrates with the built-in updater for Fantasy Grounds, making it seamless for users.

• 2022–2023 — Official Fallout RPG, Dune, and Star Trek Adventures content is available
  SmiteWorks partners with Modiphius Publishing to provide VTT access to Fallout RPG, Dune, and Star Trek Adventures.

• June 2024 — Adam Bradford (Founder of D&D Beyond) joins SmiteWorks.
  Bradford brings deep experience in digital tabletop ecosystems, platform strategy, and user experience, accelerating long-term roadmap initiatives.

• 2024–2025 — Platform ecosystem growth.
  The Fantasy Grounds Forge launches and expands, enabling creators to publish and sell content directly within the Fantasy Grounds ecosystem with automatic updates and integrated distribution.

• November 8, 2025 — Fantasy Grounds Online Reader launches in Beta.
  A browser-based reading platform that allows users to access purchased modules from any device. Over 2,000 modules are available at launch, with more added weekly.

• November 8, 2025 — Fantasy Grounds VTT becomes Free to Play.
  The base software becomes fully free for all GMs and players, removing all licensing and subscription barriers. No ads. No paywalls. Optional official modules remain available for purchase.

• Ongoing — Continuous development through regular version updates.
  Fantasy Grounds receives frequent improvements, new automation layers, new ruleset features, visual updates, and creator tools.
  Full version patch notes are available here:
  https://www.fantasygrounds.com/filelibrary/patchnotes_v4.html

Fantasy Grounds remains committed to being the most feature-rich, creator-friendly, and forward-looking virtual tabletop in the industry.

Logo & Icon

Download logo files as .ZIP

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Fantasy Grounds VTT Main Logo for Light Background

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Fantasy Grounds VTT Main Logo for Dark Background

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Fantasy Grounds Vertical Logo for Light Background

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Fantasy Grounds VTT Vertical Logo for Dark Background

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Fantasy Grounds Die Icon

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Fantasy Grounds Banner

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Fantasy Grounds Larger Banner

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SmiteWorks Logo

Videos

Fantasy Grounds VTT - Where Legends Are Played

Original Fantasy Grounds Unity Launch Trailer: 

Line of Sight with Doors and Terrain: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv1becqKVRY

Map Effects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M48W68MMQtc

Tile Based Map Building (Product walkthrough): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVdiDA-jKp4

Pointers, Cones, Squares and Circle Area of Effects on Maps: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkxw8kxrxBA

Time of Day and Adjust Colors Fx Layers - with Masking of Layers: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1BqEYDyxFw

Kickstarter Video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dch7G1s7rx4

Current Images

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Archival Images

Download all archival screenshots & photos as .zip (6MB)

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More Information

Company history, contact information and more can be found on the About SmiteWorks USA, LLC.Preview page.