It revolves around an orc called Thrall who was raised as a slave by the human lieutenant Blackmoore. After Thrall disobeys Blackmoore's order to execute another orc, he is thrown into a dungeon, and has to escape. Having escaped, he reunites with his fellow orc tribes and finds out that the tribes are in decline due to having abandoned their native shamanism in favor of black magic (which explains the orcs' role as the villains in WarCraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II). Thrall reconciles them with their native traditions by bringing together the surviving tribe chiefs, and leads them on a rebellion against Blackmoore.
In 1998, the project was cancelled by Blizzard for allegedly not meeting the company's quality standards, and the storyline was instead adapted into the novel Lord of the Clans. In 2016, a nearly-finished alpha build of the game was leaked on the Net: it can be downloaded there
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The game provides examples of:
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: The evil dragon Deathwing is depicted smoking a hookah, just like the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. This is a result of a misunderstanding by the Animation Magic artists who were asked to draw a "smoking dragon".
- It May Help You on Your Quest: Thrall has to chase vultures off of a wolf's corpse so he can grab the bladder and stash it in his pocket. Of course, you end up needing it later on, but one has to wonder what compelled him to pick up a (still full) wolf bladder in the first place...
- Perspective Flip: In WarCraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II, orcs are depicted as an Always Chaotic Evil race. In this game, it is revealed that their villainy was the result of them losing touch with their native shamanistic traditions, so Thrall has to bring them to a Heel–Face Turn.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Thrall learns about Grom Hellscream by finding a wanted poster for him in Durnholde.