diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f4da7f6b..36e76fcd 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ add-files = mkdir -p $1; \
 	cp ./docs/README $1; \
 	mkdir -p $1/docs; \
 	cp ./CHANGELOG.md $1/docs/; \
+	cp ./docs/*.md $1/docs/; \
 	cp ./docs/logo* $1/docs/;
 
 all: clean windows osx linux arm6
diff --git a/docs/FORMATTING.md b/docs/FORMATTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b9b86d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/FORMATTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# MOTD Formatting Codes
+
+If `motd-formatting` is enabled in the config file, you can use special escape codes to
+easily get bold, coloured, italic, and other types of specially-formatted text.
+
+Our formatting character is '$', and this followed by specific letters means that the text
+after it is formatted in the given way. Here are the character pairs and what they output:
+
+    --------------------------
+     Escape | Output
+    --------------------------
+       $$   | Dollar sign ($)
+       $b   | Bold
+       $c   | Color code
+       $i   | Italics
+       $u   | Underscore
+       $r   | Reset
+    --------------------------
+
+
+## Color codes
+
+After the color code (`$c`), you can use square brackets to specify which foreground and
+background colors to output. For example:
+
+This line outputs red text:
+    `This is $c[red]really cool text!`
+
+This line outputs red text with a light blue background:
+    `This is $c[red,light blue]22% cooler!`
+
+If you're familiar with IRC colors you can also use the raw numbers you're used to:
+    `This is $c13pink text`
+
+Here are the color names we support, and which IRC colors they map to:
+
+    --------------------
+     Code | Name
+    --------------------
+      00  | white
+      01  | black
+      02  | blue
+      03  | green
+      04  | red
+      05  | brown
+      06  | magenta
+      07  | orange
+      08  | yellow
+      09  | light green
+      10  | cyan
+      11  | light cyan
+      12  | light blue
+      13  | pink
+      14  | grey
+      15  | light grey
+    --------------------
diff --git a/irc/config.go b/irc/config.go
index 825a68b9..be5b3d37 100644
--- a/irc/config.go
+++ b/irc/config.go
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ type Config struct {
 		STS                STSConfig
 		CheckIdent         bool `yaml:"check-ident"`
 		MOTD               string
+		MOTDFormatting     bool     `yaml:"motd-formatting"`
 		ProxyAllowedFrom   []string `yaml:"proxy-allowed-from"`
 		MaxSendQString     string   `yaml:"max-sendq"`
 		MaxSendQBytes      uint64
diff --git a/irc/server.go b/irc/server.go
index 51048d01..e3f3c704 100644
--- a/irc/server.go
+++ b/irc/server.go
@@ -1423,7 +1423,7 @@ func (server *Server) applyConfig(config *Config, initial bool) error {
 		newISupportReplies = oldISupportList.GetDifference(server.isupport)
 	}
 
-	server.loadMOTD(config.Server.MOTD)
+	server.loadMOTD(config.Server.MOTD, config.Server.MOTDFormatting)
 
 	// reload logging config
 	err = server.logger.ApplyConfig(config.Logging)
@@ -1462,7 +1462,7 @@ func (server *Server) applyConfig(config *Config, initial bool) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (server *Server) loadMOTD(motdPath string) error {
+func (server *Server) loadMOTD(motdPath string, useFormatting bool) error {
 	server.logger.Debug("rehash", "Loading MOTD")
 	motdLines := make([]string, 0)
 	if motdPath != "" {
@@ -1477,6 +1477,11 @@ func (server *Server) loadMOTD(motdPath string) error {
 					break
 				}
 				line = strings.TrimRight(line, "\r\n")
+
+				if useFormatting {
+					line = ircfmt.Unescape(line)
+				}
+
 				// "- " is the required prefix for MOTD, we just add it here to make
 				// bursting it out to clients easier
 				line = fmt.Sprintf("- %s", line)
diff --git a/oragono.motd b/oragono.motd
index 4c08868f..14d88974 100644
--- a/oragono.motd
+++ b/oragono.motd
@@ -7,3 +7,16 @@
 
 This is the default Oragono MOTD.
 
+
+If motd-formatting is enabled in the config file, you can use the dollarsign character to
+create special formatting such as bold, italics and color codes.
+
+For example, here are a few formatted lines (enable motd-formatting to see these in action):
+
+- this is $bbold text$r.
+- this is $iitalics text$r.
+- this is $c[red]red$c and $c[blue]blue$c text.
+- this is $c[red,light blue]red text with a light blue background$c.
+- this is a normal escaped dollarsign: $$
+
+For more information on using these, see MOTDFORMATTING.md
diff --git a/oragono.yaml b/oragono.yaml
index b759cece..55f566b6 100644
--- a/oragono.yaml
+++ b/oragono.yaml
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ server:
     # if you change the motd, you should move it to ircd.motd
     motd: oragono.motd
 
+    # motd formatting codes
+    # if this is true, the motd is escaped using formatting codes like $c, $b, and $i
+    #motd-formatting: true
+
     # addresses/hostnames the PROXY command can be used from
     # this should be restricted to 127.0.0.1 and localhost at most
     # you should also add these addresses to the connection limits and throttling exemption lists