diff --git a/playbooks/db.yml b/playbooks/db.yml
index 72a78c5..c61b3a7 100755
--- a/playbooks/db.yml
+++ b/playbooks/db.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@
         backup_script: s3pgdump
       become: yes
       tags: [ backup ]
+    - role: motd
+      vars:
+        motd_watch_services_extra:
+          - postgresql
+      become: yes
+      tags: [ motd ]
     - role: postgresql
       vars:
         postgresql_global_config_options:
@@ -40,6 +46,12 @@
         backup_script: s3pgdump
       become: yes
       tags: [ backup ]
+    - role: motd
+      vars:
+        motd_watch_services_extra:
+          - postgresql
+      become: yes
+      tags: [ motd ]
     - role: postgresql
       vars:
         postgresql_hba_entries:
diff --git a/playbooks/desktop.yml b/playbooks/desktop.yml
index ce6bdeb..84edbd2 100755
--- a/playbooks/desktop.yml
+++ b/playbooks/desktop.yml
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@
           - /home/salt/.backup/
       become: yes
       tags: [ backup ]
+    - role: motd
+      become: yes
+      tags: [ motd ]
     - role: desktop
       become: yes
       tags: [ desktop ]
diff --git a/playbooks/game.yml b/playbooks/game.yml
index a4a1599..33551bc 100755
--- a/playbooks/game.yml
+++ b/playbooks/game.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@
           - /opt/minecraft/vanilla/backups
       become: yes
       tags: [ backup ]
+    - role: motd
+      vars:
+        motd_watch_services_extra:
+          - minecraft@dammit
+          - minecraft@valhelsia
+          - minecraft@vanilla
+      become: yes
+      tags: [ motd ]
     - role: minecraft
       vars:
         minecraft_enabled: no
diff --git a/playbooks/web.yml b/playbooks/web.yml
index 1e23479..794a49f 100755
--- a/playbooks/web.yml
+++ b/playbooks/web.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,14 @@
           - /var/lib/gitea/log
       become: yes
       tags: [ backup ]
+    - role: motd
+      become: yes
+      vars:
+        motd_watch_services_extra:
+          - apache2
+          - gitea
+          - php7.4-fpm
+      tags: [ motd ]
     - role: certbot
       vars:
         certbot_admin_email: rehashedsalt@cock.li
diff --git a/roles/motd/defaults/main.yml b/roles/motd/defaults/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c563e06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/motd/defaults/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# vim:ft=ansible:
+
+# Default motd files to remove from /etc/update-motd.d
+motd_remove:
+  - 00-header
+  - 10-help-text
+  - 50-landscape-sysinfo
+  - 50-motd-news
+  - 85-fwupd
+  - 90-updates-available
+  - 91-release-upgrade
+  - 92-unattended-upgrades
+  - 95-hwe-eol
+  - 97-overlayroot
+  - 98-fsck-at-reboot
+  - 98-reboot-required
+motd_remove_extra: []
+
+# Services to monitor with our script
+# Units that can't be found will be skipped
+motd_watch_services:
+  - ansible-pull
+  - backup
+motd_watch_services_extra: []
diff --git a/roles/motd/tasks/main.yml b/roles/motd/tasks/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fbe10f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/motd/tasks/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ansible-playbook
+# vim:ft=ansible:
+- name: remove default motd items
+  file: state=absent path=/etc/update-motd.d/{{ item }}
+  loop: "{{ motd_remove + motd_remove_extra }}"
+- name: template out motd script
+  template: src=motd.sh dest=/etc/update-motd.d/50-ansible mode=0755
diff --git a/roles/motd/templates/motd.sh b/roles/motd/templates/motd.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f920638
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/motd/templates/motd.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+
+# motd.sh
+# A basic motd script with some nice information. Designed to be extensible
+# and easily configurable per-host
+
+# NOTE: We do not set -e here because we don't want MOTD generation to fail
+# in the event that just this script fails
+
+# Services that we want a quick heads-up on their status
+declare -a services
+{% for item in (motd_watch_services + motd_watch_services_extra)|sort %}
+services+=("{{ item }}")
+{% endfor %}
+
+## Now, we actually put this info to use
+# Starting with services
+if [ -n "${services[*]}" ]; then
+	printf "\e[1mService Statuses\e[0m\n"
+	len=20
+	for service in "${services[@]}"; do
+		status="\e[33mUnknown\e[0m"
+		systemctl status "$service" > /dev/null 2>&1
+		case $? in
+			0)
+				status="\e[1;32mRunning\e[0m"
+				;;
+			1|2)
+				status="\e[1;31mDead\e[0m"
+				;;
+			3)
+				status="\e[37mNot Running\e[0m"
+				;;
+			4)
+				continue
+				;;
+		esac
+		printf " * \e[37m%-${len}.${len}s\e[0m - $status " "$service"
+		if systemctl is-failed --quiet "$service"; then
+			printf "\e[1;31m(FAILED!)\e[0m "
+		fi
+		printf "\n"
+	done
+fi
+
+## And some generic system status stuff
+printf "\e[1mSystem Status\e[0m\n"
+if [ -f /var/run/reboot-required ]; then
+	printf " * \e[1;33mReboot required\e[0m\n"
+else
+	printf "\e[37m - No outstanding reboots\e[0m\n"
+fi