For a summary of the general Warcraft storyline visit the Story page of the WoW site. Listed here you'll find the History of Warcraft which is actually a good story, in addition to being useful background for role players. You'll also find the Encyclopedia which is currently in development.

As an unofficial, but useful source on information you may also want to check out the WoW Wikki.

Another good source would be to play the Warcraft RTS's, and then review retcons on the Wowwiki site.

As far as official sources go, I would also suggest the World of Warcraft Roleplaying Game, published by White Wolf games (makers of that Vampire RPG that was all the rage in the 90s). It's an official, licensed source of material, and is very spot on regarding information.

are there books (you know, made with paper and all...) that I can find to help me learn the lore? as an Undead, which would be best?

I know there's a slew of Warcraft books out there, available to purchase in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy department at bookstores. What I can't tell you, however, is how good they are with the lore: I've never read them.

I should, one of these days. I hear there's a few out that are pretty good.

yeah, I checked at Amazon, and there are a lot, but I don't know where to start....

None of the novels deal with the Forsaken, really. At least not that I know of. The manga does include Sylvanas and the Scourge, but it mostly focuses on Quel'thalas.

thanks. that would be a place to start, I guess.

In this regard, the Horde player's guide has quite a bit on the Forsaken. A lot revolves around the Cult Of Forgotten Shadow, but it's definitely worth the read. Just ignore game stats if you're not a tabletop player and you're set.

There's a few storyline points that the books mess up on (In the time line, it lists Illidan as killing Mannoroth, when it was Grom Hellscream that did that. Might've been a typo or a "Duh" moment by developers.) other than those which are easily fixed with a skim through online resources, you'll find a wealth of info.

The best thing you can do to learn the lore is to play Warcraft 3 and the expansion. The books are okay, but they focus mainly on side-stories. At the core of the story is the Orc invasion of Azeroth- what caused it, how the subsequent wars went, what the effects afterwards were- and that's what the games cover.

Really, from what I can tell, the books have little bearing on WoW's lore as we see it, save for the occasional reference. Reading Lord of the Clans might help you understand the Durnholde instance and one or two Horde quests better, but that's all. The Sunwell Trilogy will help you recognize a few NPCs here and there.

Really, to someone completely unfamiliar to the lore, I'd imagine the books- including the RPG books- could end up being more confusing than helpful, with the amount of inconsequential characters and plots they introduce, or their contradictions with the official lore as presented in the games.

You can also read/watch this little thing that I put recently. It's even stickied for ease of availability.

SHAMELESS BUMP!

http://adrp.3.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=794

that's what got me wondering, Rav!

So it isn't official, but I'd also check up on wowwiki. A lot of the lore articles have both the WoW and the WoWRPG lore there. It isn't the best but it's something.