Through collaborations with 150+ community developers and numerous licensed RPG publishers, Fantasy Grounds provides deep automation and customized support for many of the industry's most popular game systems. In June 2024, Adam Bradford (Founder of D&D Beyond) joined SmiteWorks as Chief Development Officer, bringing deep experience in digital tabletop ecosystems, platform strategy, and user experience. The platform has shifted to a free-to-play model as of November 2025, positioning growth around premium content and ecosystem expansion.
Cyborg Score Rationale
SmiteWorks operates a niche but established platform with 500,000+ players, multiple major publisher partnerships (D&D, Pathfinder, Fallout), and strategic leadership hire from a proven acqui-hire (D&D Beyond). Recent free-to-play pivot and ecosystem expansion (Fantasy Grounds Forge, Online Reader) show growth momentum. Primary constraints: small team (~9 employees), modest reported revenue (~$1M), and intense competition from Roll20.
Top Insights
As of November 8, 2025, Fantasy Grounds VTT became free to play, with the base software becoming fully free for all GMs and players, removing all licensing and subscription barriers.
The Fantasy Grounds Forge enables creators to publish and sell content directly within the Fantasy Grounds ecosystem with automatic updates and integrated distribution.
Fantasy Grounds Online Reader launched in Beta in November 2025 as a browser-based reading platform that allows users to access purchased modules from any device, with over 2,000 modules available at launch.
Following new ownership in 2009 when Doug Davison purchased the company and recruited John Gregory as co-owner in January 2010, the team began increasing licensing partnerships and pioneering the VTT space for well-known RPG publishers and game systems.
Named Competitors
Roll20 — Browser-based virtual tabletop and online RPG platform