FRPG was incorporated in the spring of 1996, and was funded by a pool of investors recruited in the Seattle area by Robert (Bob) Abramowitz, who became the CEO of the new company.
Other initial staff at FRPG included Mindy Sherwood-Lewis, Philip Lewis, Arnold Koppel, Heather Beiderman, Al Skaar, Blake Beasley and Daniel Landers.
The company also entered into a complex three-way deal with AEG and Pinnacle Entertainment Group to create Doomtown: The Deadlands Collectible Card Game.
In the spring of 1997, FRPG helped to broker the deal that allowed Wizards of the Coast to acquire TSR, Inc., the creator of Dungeons & Dragons.
During this period, it saw the launch of Legend of the Burning Sands, Doomtown, Dune, the Star Trek Collectible Dice Game, and it completed several more projects that were in transition during its acquisition, including re-launching the Rage Collectible Card Game under license from White Wolf, Inc. and redesigned and art-directed by Luke Peterschmidt, as well as overseeing the Commander's Edition of the BattleTech Collectible Card Game licensed from FASA Corporation and developed and art directed by Wizards of the Coast.