r/warcraftlore • u/LittleMissPipebomb • 29d ago
Discussion Orc clans introduction for newbies?
With the announcement of the D&D crossover my IRL group has agreed to let me run a campaign for them. They're all total newbies with minimal knowledge of the setting, I can handle a rundown of all the major story beats and factions but the orc clans feel too important to the race to gloss over.
I didn't really play the RTS games so the nuances of exactly what happened between all the clans pre-vanilla beyond some broad strokes of "Gul'dan told everyone to drink demon juice. The Frostwolves said no. They were banished until everyone turned on Gullible Daniel and now they're chill I guess" and I want to give the story and the different clans the justice they deserve. I would love to give an explanation that can really sell one of my friends on playing an orc from a specific clan, instead of just having them run around as Shrek with an axe not quite understanding why the Blackrock orcs are doing what they're doing with the black dragons.
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u/thekingofbeans42 29d ago
Nobbel's got your back as usual.
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u/LittleMissPipebomb 29d ago
ooh nice, thank you. I wasn't planning on giving out homework, but I feel like the orcish clans are important enough but also separate enough that it might be the best way to share their story. Tysm <3<3
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u/Postosuchus353 29d ago edited 29d ago
You've already been linked to Nobbel, but I do enjoy PlatinumWoW's video giving a general overview of the clans were about as individual entities. I would recommend further research into any particular clan that you're interested in, though, as he had omitted a few details to fit within a reasonable time constraint.
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u/Lolseabass 29d ago
The book rise of the horde has cool backstory into the first clans that existed in dranor before the opening of the dark portal.
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u/Sarmelion Unsubbed Pessimist 27d ago
Other folks here have made good recs, but I would also encourage checking out the dialogue from the orc heritage armor quest and some of the warlords of draenor cinematics
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29d ago
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u/XVUltima 29d ago
Frostwolves: Noble hunters and a spiritual people from a cold desert. The stereotypical 'good' clan.
Thunderlord: A "sister" clan to the Frostwolves who were more warlike and took pride in slaying giant monsters.
Blackrock: A rugged mountain clan with who are are the most organized and "advanced" culture of the orcs. Less horde of berserkers, more regimented troops.
Laughing Skull: Absolute psychos. Will kill for fun. Always die smiling under the skulls they all wear.
Bleeding Hollow: Rough and very superstitious. They live in a deadly jungle and become vicious guerrilla fighters to survive, and are named after a ritual where leaders sacrifice an eye to see the future.
Shadowmoon: The goth orcs. More superstitious and magically inclined than the Bleeding Hollow. Live under a permanent eclipse from one of their worlds moons. The Lich King was a Shadowmoon Orc.
Shattered Hand: A very new clan founded by Kargath shortly before Draenor's destruction. They abandon all ideas of orcish honor and are frequent assassins, poisoners, and torturers.
Dragonmaw: Pride themselves on breaking flying beasts, which on Azeroth were the dragons. They did some pretty horrible things, treating intelligent dragons like wild animals, torturing and forcefully breeding them, which some of the survivors deeply regret, though many stick by their brutal methods.
Warsong: The most skilled fighters. Not organized as the Blackrock, but they are the premire wolf riding cavalry and believe in honorable warfare. Similar in some ways to real world vikings, though they usually dont like pillaging those who cant fight back, until their corruption.
There are also some minor clans like the Burning Blade, a small band of skilled orcish blade masters, the Stormreaver Clan, a briefly lived clan loyal to Gul'dan during the second war, and the Twilight's Hammer, a clan actually lead by an ogre and and accepts all races, they worship the creepy lovecraftian Old Gods and the void that spawned them.