The Engine is powered by Java , version 1.5 or higher. Java enables the Engine to be run on most existing platforms, such as Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris and a multitude of Unix-like environments. You can also benefit from the increase in execution speed provided by Java SE 6.

The PBEM Engine uses the GNU JavaMail implementation for sending and receiving e-mail. In addition, the Engine has an abstraction layer to make the creation of e-mails easier for developers. All you need to do is provide a Freemarker template or image file and it will be converted to a MIME message part.

To configure the Engine, start games, and manage them, all you need is a web-browser. The Engine has a built-in RFC-compliant webserver that allows easy creation of a web-based configuration interface. As a Ruleset developer, you need not worry about details such as authentication - the Engine takes care of it.

The Engine uses Freemarker technology for template processing. Rather than having to embed presentation code (be it for player reports or the web configuration interface) directly into your Java objects, you can simply use Freemarker templates. This allows for cleaner code and increased development efficiency.

The Engine uses Hibernate with JPA/Annotations support for data storage, enabling the Engine to run on a wide range of databases.

Inspired by the Spring framework , the Engine has a simple yet effective auto-wiring mechanism that decreases the amount of glue code required for many tasks. The web interface, the Engine turn processor and even report generators are all auto-wired. All you need to do is specify which classes are available for autowiring, and the Engine will automatically create the necessary objects for the task at hand, by using dependency-injection by type.