From the introduction: Elemental is a universal roleplaying game that does things a bit differently. Our design philosophy can be summed up in four words: One rule, many applications. In other words, the system covers any genre and any situation with a few general rules, rather than many specific rules. What this means is that the rules are easy to learn, easy to remember and easy to use at the table. Plus, there are no rules where none are needed. The game can “breathe” and let everyone experience the simple joy of roleplaying. The result, ironically, is that the focus of the game falls on what’s not in this book: the characters and the story. In other words, the rules exist only to serve the fictional content you bring to the table.