During China's Ming Dynasty, the mythical War of Nine Dragons took place. All nine martial arts heroes (the Dragons) embodied a major clan, and were either killed or vanished. In 9Dragons, the player starts as a poor peasant who ends up joining one of these clans, learns its secrets through a myriad of quests and creates their own individual fighting style to bring back the glorious past and become a kung fu master.

Players create their "peasant" (male or female) via a rather uninspired character creation system, with only eight faces, seven hairstyles (with a choice of black, brown or white) and three costumes to choose from. Apparently, characters can change their appearance in the game, as noted by several nicely outfitted avatars.

During the creation phase, players distribute Chi points amongst five abilities: Strength (damage), Essence (endurance), Wisdom (intellectual ability), Constitution (health) and Dexterity (agility). Each has a direct impact on what style of kung fu can be used, and what clan will be most appropriate.

Six locations serve as starting points within the game world, each a "home" to one of the clans (League of Beggars, Brotherhood of Thieves, Clan of Shaolin, Sacred Flower Clan, Wu Tang and Heavenly Demon Clan). Odd, since the game's mythos mentions nine clans. Granted, very low levels were achieved during the beta stint so the last three might pop up at higher stages. Each uses a different style of kung fu, some that involve weapons and others where clan members use bare fists. Supposedly, each style features more than 400 moves and over 500 different weapons. Classes exist within the clans, each emphasizing a different set of skills. The Shaolin Clan, for example, has the Luohan Monks as its main fighting force (armed and unarmed). They require a high Constitution, but not a lot of Wisdom. The Diamond Monks employ an unarmed Praying Mantis style, but as Healers, require a high degree of Essence and Wisdom. Deva train in all forms except polearm techniques, and require high Constitution and Essence. Exorcist Monks may be ill suited for melee combat but have mastered the protective Diamond Arts, emphasizing Essence and Wisdom.

Players must complete quests to gain Achievement Levels. Persistent Worlds claims 450 different quests currently exist, with 20 to 40 new ones being added every month. There are 18 total Achievement Levels comprised of 12 sub-levels called "Chengs." For each new Achievement Level, players get four Chi points and one Mastery point. Mastery is a measurement of achievement in one of the ten categories of Kung Fu (i.e., hand and foot mastery, sword, saber, dagger, staff, polearm, etc.), rather than an individual technique. So the more Mastery Points distributed into a category, the more powerful all related techniques become.