Subtitled "Core Rules for Gaslamp Fantasy Tabletop Adventure Campaigns," Engines & Empires is a tabletop adventure game used for playing traditional dungeon crawl and hex crawl campaigns set in otherwise typical fantasy worlds that happen to have a 19th century level of technology. (Kind of like "Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura".)

The core rules are close to the Basic/Expert game, except that the human classes (fighter, rogue, mage, tech, and scholar) only go up to 10th level, and the demi-human classes (dwarf, elf, goblin, and ogre) have level limits that range to 6th to 8th. There are only four ability scores (Valor, Fortune, Wits, and Presence) and a d6-based skill system.

Mages use the cantrip/spell/ritual system from "Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures"; techs have a system of gadgets/chemicals/inventions to match. (Vancian magic is present through a ritual called "The Patient Word" in Beyond the Wall, here renamed "Nevca's Mnemonic Nave.") Monsters and magical items are pretty much the same as other OSR games.