Lords of EverQuest is a real-time strategy game with role-playing elements. The game is set in the EverQuest universe and takes place ten thousand years before the events of the original EverQuest. Players can choose to control any of the three alliances, each composed of different races: Shadowrealm (dark elves, ogres, and the iksar); Dawn Brotherhood (humans, barbarians, and dwarves); and the Eldaar Alliance (high elves, wood elves, halflings and froglocks). The single-player mode offers three campaigns, one per alliance. Each alliance has its own motivations for war, and the three stories are intertwined.

Each alliance has five "lords" (equivalent to "heroes" in other strategy games), making a total of fifteen lords with different abilities. The player chooses one of these lords to help his units in battles. The lords greatly enhance the performance of friendly units and can also sabotage the enemy. The units consist of race-specific soldiers and can be selected before each mission; a certain number of them can be transferred to the next one. Both lords and units level up, learn new abilities and become stronger, in a RPG-like fashion.

Resource management plays a lesser role in the game than in most other games of its type. Only one type of resource (platinum) is available for mining.