HorseArt RPG

HorseArt RPG is one of the oldest art roleplay games and is the first horse art roleplay game (HARPG) on DeviantART. It is a G-rated game that heavily encourages players to learn and grow their art skills through playing the game. The group accepts fantasy horse breeds along side natural ones. Their tagline is "It doesn't exist until you draw it."
==History==
HorseArt RPG was opened by Moonfeather on May 26, 2008, before DeviantART rolled out groups to all members in 2010. This not only makes it the oldest ARPG/HARPG on DeviantART, but also one of the first groups made on the website as well. The oldest journal still on the page is from Nov 17, 2010,https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/journal/HARPG-Gameplay-Guidelines-234442739 Nov 17, 2010 (Accessed Mar 5, 2020) which had it's last edit in 2014. This is the group's main guideline, where new members can learn how to play. As of March 2020 it has a handful of broken photobucket images that have yet to be replaced. Several of the categories, such as "hosting a show" remain without any information. The guidelines indicate that the group may have once also been a horse registry, but it no longer functions this way. 
The group has two journals dedicated to news through time, and though they updated sparingly they still contain some snippets of group history within them. In the first journal (now labeled the "old news" journal), the very first update is a message of sadness for the direction the group was headed. At this point the staff were considering closing the group down. In response the group added events and competitions, as well as made the rules more lax and open. Then, on Nov 20, 2013, the group began doing away with stable lists. Instead players would submit their stables to a gallery. On Jun 21, 2014 the founder Carousel-Stables (Moonfeather's HARPG alt) stepped down and gave the group to PinkPonyFarts. The mascot that still remains on the front page as of Mar 2020 was created on Jul 9, 2014, by Horsepoint. In Sept 21, 2014 the group had issues with players stealing images from Google and submitting them as their own horse characters. On Oct 4, 2014 PinkPonyFarts stepped down and handed the group to War-Chant, who is now deactivated. Strangely, though this news journal is called the old news journal, the new news journal still has updates from 2014, though the old news journal had updates until 2015.https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/journal/News-Updates-and-Broken-Things-414515035 Circa Nov 18, 2013 (Accessed Mar 25, 2020)
The "new" journal had only three entries that were different from the old one. On March 31, 2017 the group was looking for a new admin, and then on an un-dated update they opened their Discord group.https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/journal/News-Discord-Secret-Santa-and-more-517868315 March 31, 2017 (Accessed Mar 25, 2020)
The group began running a "newsletter" in 2010 (see community section).https://www.deviantart.com/harpgnewslettermule/journal/The-HorseArt-RPG-Newsletter-Volume-88-800031419 Jun 1, 2019 (Accessed Mar 5, 2020)
A staff-held account called HARPG was created in 2018. As of March 2020, it only has three deviations: stamps that say "I survived HARPG (year)" for 2015, 2016, and 2017.
==Mechanics==
HorseArt RPG allows each player to create their own canon while simply following the community guidelines of the game. Because of this players' personal stable stories are vast, and may or may not include elements of fantasy. Players may still use the mechanics of the group if they intend to be a part of it's community.
===Stables===
Every player who participates in HARPG creates a fantasy stable with horse characters, similar to fantasy football. Stables can be anything from a traditional farm, a small homestead, to lavish castles. Players can own more than one stable. Creating a map of the stable is a common practice. In order to officiate a stable with the game, a player must have at least one horse as listed living there.
===Breeding===
Players may have their own breeding rules to follow. After reading those, two players may come together and decide to breed some of their horses. An image called a "breeding picture" of the two horses hanging out has to be drawn before the breeding is official. There are no fees for breeding horses together, and all breeding pictures must be G-rated. The bloodline of the foal must be placed in the character's description and the foal does not exist until it has its image drawn. Though there is no journal saying that players must follow the genetics of real life horses, there is a gallery dedicated to horse genetics and anatomy that is linked on the front page.https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/gallery/46942303/horse-tutorials (Accessed Mar 11, 2020
===Themed Challenges===
Like most ARPGs HorseArt RPG hosts a number of prompts for players to use. These prompts may gain points to stats. Players can also make use of "Titles" to reward themselves. For example, if a player draws their horse being lead by its trainer the horse can take the title "HAI." To take titles, the horse must complete them in sequence and be at least three years old.
Occasionally the staff host a special themed prompt, such as with the Valentine's Day prompt for circa 2013.https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/journal/Roleplay-and-Interaction-Hub-Valentine-s-Prompt-415019563 Circa Nov 21, 2013 (Accessed Mar 25, 2020)
===Stats===
Horses may make use of a stat system. The six statuses are: speed, intelligence, endurance, strength, temperament, and agility. Training images give +1 point in the applicable stat, such as gaining +1 agility when training in reining. if a horse completes all the training in a discipline, or if they compete in a show, they will gain +3 in the applicable stat. In a competition, a third place horse will get +1, a second place +2, and a third place +3, with the judge awarding +4 to a grand champion. Stats have no limit.
==Community==
The community resided on DeviantART and had its own DA chat, which would be located here. It now has a Discord.
===Newsletters===
The group runs a "newsletter," journals posted by a separate group called HARPG-Newsletter rather than the group's main page. This newsletter features HARPG characters, collects interviews from players, and writes related columns. The oldest newsletter in the gallery from Mar 1, 2011, was re-posted in 2013.https://www.deviantart.com/harpgnewslettermule/journal/The-HorseArt-RPG-Newsletter-Volume-X-355654404 Mar 1, 2011 (Accessed Mar 5, 2020) It featured horse art from the game, such as Hathien603's stallion, Valor, among dozens of other featured art. A June 27, 2016 newsletter had "orbits," features where the author talked more specifically about a few players' horses.https://www.deviantart.com/harpgnewslettermule/journal/The-HorseArt-RPG-Newsletter-Volume-LIV-618143532 June 27, 2016 (Accessed Mar 5, 2020) It also had sections from HARPG players about player-made shows and facts about jousting. Closer to the bottom, the article advertises three related groups. 
A Dec 31, 2017 article housed a host of player interviews, including one from user WhiteElkS. WhiteElkS talks about wanting to become a stable vet, and about how they had been watching stables on DeviantART being created for about five years before they joined in. They said each one of their horses as "a part of me." At the end, when asked about HARPG, WhiteElkS says HorseArt RPG was "relaxing and inspiring," and that they "never lack on motivation here."https://www.deviantart.com/harpgnewslettermule/journal/The-HorseArt-RPG-Newsletter-Volume-LXXII-723009027 Dec 31, 2017 (Accessed Mar 5, 2020)
The last newsletter was posted on June 1, 2019.https://www.deviantart.com/harpgnewslettermule/journal/The-HorseArt-RPG-Newsletter-Volume-88-800031419 Jun 1, 2019 (Accessed Mar 5, 2020) 
===Roleplay===
The ARPG has a "roleplay hub" that hosts a comment thread for players looking for roleplays, collabs, and trades. This comment thread's last reply was from Mar 31, 2019, from user dedllama, who was advertising for stable tours, behind the show scenes, roleplays with fantasy horses, and clinic roleplays. Outside of this thread there is a channel on the group's Discord for roleplay searching.https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/journal/Roleplay-and-Interaction-Hub-Valentine-s-Prompt-415019563 Circa Nov 21, 2013 (Accessed Mar 25, 2020)
===Secret Santa===
HorseArt RPG ran a separate group called HARPG-SecretSanta, similar to how they ran a separate group for their newsletter. This group served to host yearly Secret Santa events for the HARPG community, with the first being in 2011. Only members of HorseArt RPG could join these events.https://www.deviantart.com/harpg-secretsanta/journal/HARPG-Secret-Santa-2011-257010016 Sept 5, 2011 (Accessed Mar 29, 2020) In Jan 2014 the Secret Santa staff apologized for 2013's event being "laggy."https://www.deviantart.com/harpg-secretsanta/journal/Reminders-and-Apologies-429045044 Jan 23, 2014 (Accessed Mar 29, 2020) between 2018 and 2019 the group seemed to have had difficulties finding volunteers to run it and was on the lookout for a new admin. the last Secret Santa event was in 2019.https://www.deviantart.com/harpg-secretsanta/journal/HARPG-Secret-Santa-2019-see-you-next-year-821215875 Nov 23, 2019 (accessed Mar 29, 2020)
===Winter Ball===
The admin War-Chant started the annual Winter Ball in Dec 2014.https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/journal/HARPG-Winter-Ball-Events-499000796 Dec 7, 2014 (accessed Mar 31, 2020) This was an event meant to encourage participation during a time in which the admin saw the group slowly growing quiet.https://www.deviantart.com/horseart-rpg/journal/A-Time-For-Change-494094683 Nov 12, 2014 (Accessed Mar 31, 2020) It not only had normal horse showing competitions but competitions such as "Horseball" and a Harry Potter inspired "Equidditch." Even though War-Chant intended for this ball to become a yearly event, it only happened once in 2014.
===Comments===
==Links==
*Gallery
*HARPG user
*Discord
*Newsletter group
*Secret Santa group
==Archives==
*HorseArt RPG on May 15, 2019
*HARPG Guidelines May 30, 2015
==References==