Who we are and what we want
We are a small team of role-playing fans. Even though our productions look professional and we put as much care as possible into them, the fact remains that we don’t earn any money from them and it’s not our main job. We have normal jobs and produce our series in our spare time/free time – unpaid, without income. Each of our series is a private fan project, born out of a passion for fantasy worlds and storytelling – without any commercial interests. In addition, we have been role-playing in The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) for what feels like half a century and are well established in the community. This long-standing experience from countless in-game adventures, events and improv sessions has naturally led us to storytelling – this is how our stories and series came about.
- We invest our free time, our creative ideas and our own resources to make these stories as vivid as possible.
- Our aim is to offer an entertaining mix of excitement, humour and role-playing flair.
- We hope that both experienced role-players and newcomers will enjoy it.
Biography
Darkbats Christian
Christian is Creative Producer & Audio Lead at Darkbats Music & Fantasy. He combines storytelling with composition and sound design – including for the series Patsy Wackelwitz, for which he was responsible for the epic musical accompaniment.
Christian’s approach: clear dramaturgy, powerful soundscapes and collaborative work with authors, narrators and the community.
Long profile
Christian develops, produces and publishes serial fantasy formats for YouTube at Darkbats, including Alenwen and Patsy Wackelwitz. As creator and showrunner, he combines story development, directing and production: from the initial idea to the script and production. showrunner, he combines story development, directing and production:
From the initial idea to script and storyboard/animatic to editing, compositing and lip-sync animation (mouth animation for talking characters) to turn texts into moving stories.
His audio focus includes composition, sound design, mixing and mastering. This results in harmonious soundscapes that convey humour, tempo and emotion. One milestone is Patsy Wackelwitz – Episode 5: Rosinante, with epic musical accompaniment (over 230 hours of production) that audibly expands on Darkbats’ previous quality.
Working method & pipeline
Idea → Script → Animatics → Editing & compositing → lip-sync animation → score & SFX → mix & master → publishing (YouTube & social media)
- Creator & Showrunner (series creator, overall responsibility for content and organisation)
- Producer / Director (planning, management, creative implementation)
- Animation (Lip-Sync) & Motion Design
- Komposition & Sounddesign
Darkbats Kerstin
Kerstin is co-author, head writer & story editor at Darkbats. She develops characters and dialogues for the YouTube series “Patsy Wackelwitz” and “Alenwen”, structures story arcs and edits scripts until publication. In addition to screenplays, she writes song lyrics (including for the Alpendudeln trailer song) and oversees website and social media content. Her trademark:
humorous, clear texts with heart that make complexity accessible –
from one-liners to multi-part plots.
Long profile
Kerstin is responsible for content development at Darkbats as Head Writer & Story Editor. She also conceives and writes the scripts for Patsy Wackelwitz and Alenwen as a co-writer, designs character development, and sharpens dialogue to ensure that humour, timing, and emotion come across effectively. Working closely with Christian, she runs scripts through table reads, creates beat sheets, builds suspense arcs, and ensures coherence across seasons and formats.
Her responsibilities also include proofreading & editing (web & social media), adapting texts for SEO and accessibility, as well as song lyrics – for example, for the Alpendudeln trailer song. Kerstin accompanies the pipeline from the idea through outline → script → revision to handover to editing, animation and audio, provides director’s notes for voice recordings and documents style guides and continuity. Kerstin also lends her voice to the title character “Patsy Wackelwitz or Skaldiv (Alenwen series)” and also does an excellent job with other dubbing work in our projects – from supporting roles to lip-sync fine-tuning to selective voice direction.
In addition, Kerstin regularly publishes articles in the online fan magazine “Der Auenlandbote”, focusing on role-playing in The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). Her articles include event reports (e.g. concerts, tavern evenings, festivals), community portraits of role-playing groups and artists. The articles combine careful research with clear, accessible language, offering added value for beginners and experienced role-players alike.
Working method
- Story development with clear objectives (theme, stakes, payoff)
- Dialogues with rhythm, subtext and concise beats
- Iterative editing: content, style, final editorial review
- Close coordination with production, animation and audio for smooth handovers
- Head Writer & Story Editor
- Author / Screenplay
- Song lyrics & editing (web/social media)
- Voice actress
Alenwen & Patsy Wackelwitz
Fan series in Middle-earth and Tamriel
Alenwen (The Lord of the Rings Online)
Darkbats Alenwen played in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO), which brings Middle-earth to life as an ongoing online world. We accompany the young elf Alenwen as she curiously embarks on an adventure and encounters idiosyncratic characters – including the Beorning Skaldiv. Beorning is a skin-changer class in LOTRO that can take the form of a bear in battle. The series takes a fresh look at friendships, obstacles and the endearing chaos along the way. After season 2, the Alenwen series is complete.
Patsy Wackelwitz (The Elder Scrolls Online)
Patsy Wackelwitz is our current project in The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) – the award-winning online RPG set in the Elder Scrolls universe. Patsy is an independent, chaotic yet lovable character; we are filming her adventures with a strong role-playing flair. ESO follows the “go where you want, play how you want” principle and takes you across the continent of Tamriel – ideal for flexible, ongoing stories.
Why two worlds?
Whether it’s Middle-earth or Tamriel, both series represent our passion for telling character-driven fan stories with humour, heart and bite. Alenwen focuses on the experiences of an elf in Middle-earth; Patsy explores a different, impulsive world – connected by our storytelling and love of role-playing games.
outlook
Following the completion of Darkbats Alenwen, our focus is now on new Patsy Wackelwitz adventures in ESO – humorous, independent and cinematically realised. We continue to show how closely friendship, fun and imagination are intertwined in role-playing games.
Important transparency notice
Our projects are fan projects – by fans for fans.
We work professionally in their implementation, but:
- No income: We don’t make any money from it.
- Not our main occupation: We have regular jobs and produce in our spare time.
- Free of charge: The work is done without payment,
out of pure enthusiasm for storytelling & role-playing. - Private & non-commercial: Our series are private fan productions without commercial interests.