diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 78056ac1..7edfa3e6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ By default, the container will download the latest version of the "vanilla" [Min
    * [Running on RaspberryPi](#running-on-raspberrypi)
    * [Contributing](#contributing)
 
-<!-- Added by: runner, at: Thu Jan  6 12:50:03 UTC 2022 -->
+<!-- Added by: runner, at: Sat Jan  8 00:32:28 UTC 2022 -->
 
 <!--te-->
 
@@ -587,6 +587,8 @@ Configuration options with defaults:
 - `LIMBO_SCHEMA_FILENAME`=default.schem
 - `LEVEL`="Default;${LIMBO_SCHEMA_FILENAME}"
 
+> NOTE: instead of using format codes in the MOTD, Limbo requires [JSON chat content](https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Raw_JSON_text_format#Java_Edition). If a plain string is provided, which is the default, then it gets converted into the required JSON structure. 
+
 ### Running a Crucible server
 
 A [Crucible](https://github.com/CrucibleMC/Crucible) server can be run by setting `TYPE` to `CRUCIBLE`.
diff --git a/scripts/start-finalExec b/scripts/start-finalExec
index f0d6b5fb..d7325a04 100755
--- a/scripts/start-finalExec
+++ b/scripts/start-finalExec
@@ -323,10 +323,10 @@ EOF
   else
     exec mc-server-runner "${mcServerRunnerArgs[@]}" "${finalArgs[@]}"
   fi
-elif [[ -x run.sh ]]; then
+elif [[ $SERVER =~ run.sh ]]; then
   log "Using Forge supplied run.sh script..."
   echo $JVM_XX_OPTS $JVM_OPTS $expandedDOpts > user_jvm_args.txt
-  exec mc-server-runner "${mcServerRunnerArgs[@]}" --shell bash run.sh
+  exec mc-server-runner "${mcServerRunnerArgs[@]}" --shell bash "${SERVER}"
 else
   # If we have a bootstrap.txt file... feed that in to the server stdin
   if [ -f /data/bootstrap.txt ]; then
diff --git a/scripts/start-setupServerProperties b/scripts/start-setupServerProperties
index 0febd096..c700702e 100755
--- a/scripts/start-setupServerProperties
+++ b/scripts/start-setupServerProperties
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ function customizeServerProps {
 
   # If not provided, generate a reasonable default message-of-the-day,
   # which shows up in the server listing in the client
-  if [ -z "$MOTD" ]; then
+  if ! [ -v "$MOTD" ]; then
     # snapshot is the odd case where we have to look at version to identify that label
     if [[ ${ORIGINAL_TYPE} == "VANILLA" && ${VERSION} == "SNAPSHOT" ]]; then
       label=SNAPSHOT
@@ -62,6 +62,13 @@ function customizeServerProps {
     MOTD="A ${label} Minecraft Server powered by Docker"
   fi
 
+  # normalize MOTD
+  if [[ ${TYPE^^} = LIMBO ]]; then
+    if [[ $MOTD ]] && ! [[ $MOTD =~ ^{ ]]; then
+      MOTD="{\"text\":\"${MOTD}\"}"
+    fi
+  fi
+
   setServerProp "server-name" SERVER_NAME
   setServerProp "server-ip" SERVER_IP
   setServerProp "server-port" SERVER_PORT