diff --git a/run.js b/run.js
index fc29667..73d51b2 100644
--- a/run.js
+++ b/run.js
@@ -6,7 +6,33 @@ require('./snippets');
 var DBot = function(timers) {
     // Load external files
     this.config = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('config.json', 'utf-8'));
-    this.db = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('db.json', 'utf-8'));
+    try {
+        this.db = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('db.json', 'utf-8'));
+    } catch (e) {
+        this.db = {};
+    } finally {  /* fill any missing parts of the db; if this is a new DB, that's all of them */
+        if(!this.db.hasOwnProperty("bans")) {
+            this.db.bans = {};
+        }
+        if(!this.db.bans.hasOwnProperty("*")) {
+            this.db.bans["*"] = [];
+        }
+        if(!this.db.hasOwnProperty("quoteArrs")) {
+            this.db.quoteArrs = {};
+        }
+        if(!this.db.hasOwnProperty("kicks")) {
+            this.db.kicks = {};
+        }
+        if(!this.db.hasOwnProperty("kickers")) {
+            this.db.kickers = {};
+        }
+        if(!this.db.hasOwnProperty("modehate")) {
+            this.db.modehate = [];
+        }
+        if(!this.db.hasOwnProperty("locks")) {
+            this.db.locks = [];
+        }
+    }
 
     // Populate bot properties with config data
     this.name = this.config.name || 'dbox';