diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f8a65486..41215948 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ RUN easy-add --var os=${TARGETOS} --var arch=${TARGETARCH}${TARGETVARIANT} \
   --var version=1.9.1 --var app=mc-server-runner --file {{.app}} \
   --from https://github.com/itzg/{{.app}}/releases/download/{{.version}}/{{.app}}_{{.version}}_{{.os}}_{{.arch}}.tar.gz
 
-ARG MC_HELPER_VERSION=1.36.6
+ARG MC_HELPER_VERSION=1.36.7
 ARG MC_HELPER_BASE_URL=https://github.com/itzg/mc-image-helper/releases/download/${MC_HELPER_VERSION}
 # used for cache busting local copy of mc-image-helper
 ARG MC_HELPER_REV=1
diff --git a/docs/configuration/server-properties.md b/docs/configuration/server-properties.md
index ba2de8e4..a7f85247 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/server-properties.md
+++ b/docs/configuration/server-properties.md
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ renders
 
 ![](../img/motd-example.png)
 
+!!! note "Escape unicode"
+
+    Some Minecraft versions and server types do not support unicode characters, such as §, in `server.properties`. In those cases, an extra "\u00C2" will appear in the file and the client will render those as  characters. Unicode characters can be written as escaped codes by setting the environment variable `SERVER_PROPERTIES_ESCAPE_UNICODE` to "true".
+
 To produce a multi-line MOTD, embed a newline character as `\n` in the string, such as
 
     -e MOTD="Line one\nLine two"
diff --git a/scripts/start-setupServerProperties b/scripts/start-setupServerProperties
index f0ab364c..a5e71a0c 100755
--- a/scripts/start-setupServerProperties
+++ b/scripts/start-setupServerProperties
@@ -110,11 +110,13 @@ function customizeServerProps {
 
   setPropertiesArgs=(
     --definitions "/image/property-definitions.json"
+    --escape-unicode="${SERVER_PROPERTIES_ESCAPE_UNICODE:-false}"
   )
   if [[ -v CUSTOM_SERVER_PROPERTIES ]]; then
     setPropertiesArgs+=(--custom-properties "$CUSTOM_SERVER_PROPERTIES")
   fi
 
+  handleDebugMode
   if ! mc-image-helper set-properties "${setPropertiesArgs[@]}" "$SERVER_PROPERTIES"; then
     log "ERROR: failed to update server.properties"
     exit 1