GaN films were grown using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on intentionally roughened c-sapphire in order to study the effect of the substrate roughness. Controlled substrate damage was achieved by exposing the substrate surfaces to controlled amounts of trimethylgallium followed by exposure to hydrogen at elevated temperature. The bulk film quality was studied by high-resolution X-ray diffraction and the surface topography was examined by atomic force microscopy. It was observed that mild substrate roughness (surface pit depth up to 30 nm) does not have a significant effect on the bulk film quality nor the GaN surface topography, and that recovery of the surface roughness is observed in very early stages of film growth. Cross sectional transmission electron microscopy confirmed that MOCVD GaN grown on inclined sidewalls etched in c-sapphire maintained the $\{0001\}_{\rm sapphire}\parallel\{0001\}_{\rm GaN}$ epitaxial relationship despite the substrate miscut of ca. 15° with respect to the c-axis.