diff --git a/PBot/EventDispatcher.pm b/PBot/EventDispatcher.pm
index d628b0d4..76736ffc 100644
--- a/PBot/EventDispatcher.pm
+++ b/PBot/EventDispatcher.pm
@@ -31,14 +31,38 @@ sub dispatch_event {
   my $ret = undef;
 
   if (exists $self->{handlers}->{$event_type}) {
-    foreach my $handler (@{$self->{handlers}->{$event_type}}) {
-      $ret = $handler->($event_type, $event_data);
+    for (my $i = 0; $i < @{$self->{handlers}->{$event_type}}; $i++) {
+      my $handler = @{$self->{handlers}->{$event_type}}[$i];
+
+      eval {
+        $ret = $handler->($event_type, $event_data);
+      };
+
+      if ($@) {
+        chomp $@;
+        $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Error in event handler: $@\n");
+        $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Removing handler.\n");
+        splice @{$self->{handlers}->{$event_type}}, $i--, 1;
+      }
+
       return $ret if $ret;
     }
   }
 
-  foreach my $handler (@{$self->{handlers}->{any}}) {
-    $ret = $handler->($event_type, $event_data);
+  for (my $i = 0; $i < @{$self->{handlers}->{any}}; $i++) {
+    my $handler = @{$self->{handlers}->{any}}[$i];
+
+    eval {
+      $ret = $handler->($event_type, $event_data);
+    };
+
+    if ($@) {
+      chomp $@;
+      $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Error in event handler: $@\n");
+      $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Removing handler.\n");
+      splice @{$self->{handlers}->{any}}, $i--, 1;
+    }
+
     return $ret if $ret;
   }
 
diff --git a/PBot/PBot.pm b/PBot/PBot.pm
index b74c7e62..da33e52c 100644
--- a/PBot/PBot.pm
+++ b/PBot/PBot.pm
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ use PBot::Timer;
 use PBot::AntiAway;
 use PBot::AntiKickAutoRejoin;
 use PBot::Refresher;
+use PBot::Pluggable;
 
 sub new {
   if(ref($_[1]) eq 'HASH') {
@@ -144,6 +145,8 @@ sub initialize {
     %conf
   );
 
+  $self->{pluggable} = PBot::Pluggable->new(pbot => $self, %conf);
+
   # load registry entries from file to overwrite defaults
   $self->{registry}->load;
 
diff --git a/PBot/Pluggable.pm b/PBot/Pluggable.pm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fa79e6d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PBot/Pluggable.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+# File: Pluggable.pm
+# Author: pragma-
+#
+# Purpose: Loads and manages pluggable modules.
+
+package PBot::Pluggable;
+
+use warnings;
+use strict;
+
+use File::Basename;
+use Carp ();
+
+sub new {
+  if(ref($_[1]) eq 'HASH') {
+    Carp::croak("Options to " . __FILE__ . " should be key/value pairs, not hash reference");
+  }
+
+  my ($class, %conf) = @_;
+
+  my $self = bless {}, $class;
+  $self->initialize(%conf);
+  return $self;
+}
+
+sub initialize {
+  my ($self, %conf) = @_;
+
+  $self->{pbot} = delete $conf{pbot} // Carp::croak("Missing pbot reference to " . __FILE__);
+
+  $self->{modules} = {};
+
+  $self->{pbot}->{commands}->register(sub { $self->load_cmd(@_)   },  "plug",     90);
+  $self->{pbot}->{commands}->register(sub { $self->unload_cmd(@_) },  "unplug",   90);
+  $self->{pbot}->{commands}->register(sub { $self->list_cmd(@_)   },  "pluglist",  0);
+
+  $self->autoload();
+}
+
+sub autoload {
+  my $self = shift;
+
+  $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Loading pluggable modules ...\n");
+  my $module_count = 0;
+
+  my @modules = glob 'PBot/Pluggable/*.pm';
+
+  foreach my $module (sort @modules) {
+    $module = basename $module;
+    $module =~ s/.pm$//;
+
+    # do not load modules that begin with an underscore
+    next if $module =~ m/^_/;
+
+    $module_count++ if $self->load($module)
+  }
+
+  $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("$module_count module" . ($module_count == 1 ? '' : 's') . " loaded.\n");
+}
+
+sub load {
+  my ($self, $module) = @_;
+
+  $self->unload($module);
+
+  my $class = "PBot::Pluggable::$module";
+
+  $self->{pbot}->{refresher}->{refresher}->refresh_module("PBot/Pluggable/$module.pm");
+
+  my $ret = eval { 
+    eval "require $class";
+
+    if ($@) {
+      chomp $@;
+      $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Error loading $module: $@\n");
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Loading $module\n");
+    my $mod = $class->new(pbot => $self->{pbot});
+    $self->{modules}->{$module} = $mod;
+    $self->{pbot}->{refresher}->{refresher}->update_cache("PBot/Pluggable/$module.pm");
+    return 1;
+  };
+
+  if ($@) {
+    chomp $@;
+    $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Error loading $module: $@\n");
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+  return $ret;
+}
+
+sub unload {
+  my ($self, $module) = @_;
+
+  $self->{pbot}->{refresher}->{refresher}->unload_module("PBot::Pluggable::$module");
+  $self->{pbot}->{refresher}->{refresher}->unload_subs("PBot/Pluggable/$module.pm");
+
+  if (exists $self->{modules}->{$module}) {
+    eval {
+      $self->{modules}->{$module}->unload;
+      delete $self->{modules}->{$module};
+    };
+    if ($@) {
+      chomp $@;
+      $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Warning: got error unloading module $module: $@\n");
+    }
+    $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("Pluggable module $module unloaded.\n");
+    return 1;
+  } else {
+    return 0;
+  }
+}
+
+sub load_cmd {
+   my ($self, $from, $nick, $user, $host, $arguments) = @_;
+
+   if (not length $arguments) {
+     return "Usage: plug <plugin>";
+   }
+
+   if ($self->load($arguments)) {
+     return "Loaded $arguments plugin.";
+   } else {
+     return "Plugin $arguments not found.";
+   }
+}
+
+sub unload_cmd {
+   my ($self, $from, $nick, $user, $host, $arguments) = @_;
+
+   if (not length $arguments) {
+     return "Usage: unplug <plugin>";
+   }
+
+   if ($self->unload($arguments)) {
+     return "Unloaded $arguments plugin.";
+   } else {
+     return "Plugin $arguments not found.";
+   }
+}
+
+sub list_cmd {
+   my ($self, $from, $nick, $user, $host, $arguments) = @_;
+
+   my $result = "Loaded plugins: ";
+   my $count = 0;
+   my $comma = '';
+
+   foreach my $plugin (sort keys $self->{modules}) {
+     $result .= $comma . $plugin;
+     $count++;
+     $comma = ', ';
+   }
+
+   $result .= 'none' if $count == 0;
+
+   return $result;
+}
+
+1;
diff --git a/PBot/Pluggable/_Example.pm b/PBot/Pluggable/_Example.pm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..234abdd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PBot/Pluggable/_Example.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+
+package PBot::Pluggable::_Example;
+
+use warnings;
+use strict;
+
+use Carp ();
+
+sub new {
+  Carp::croak("Options to " . __FILE__ . " should be key/value pairs, not hash reference") if ref $_[1] eq 'HASH';
+  my ($class, %conf) = @_;
+  my $self = bless {}, $class;
+  $self->initialize(%conf);
+  return $self;
+}
+
+sub initialize {
+  my ($self, %conf) = @_;
+
+  $self->{pbot} = delete $conf{pbot} // Carp::croak("Missing pbot reference to " . __FILE__);
+
+  $self->{pbot}->{event_dispatcher}->register_handler('irc.public',    sub { $self->on_public(@_) });
+}
+
+sub unload {
+  my $self = shift;
+  # perform plugin clean-up here
+  # normally we'd unregister the 'irc.public' event handler; however, the
+  # event dispatcher will do this automatically for us when it sees there
+  # is no longer an existing sub.
+}
+
+sub on_public {
+  my ($self, $event_type, $event) = @_;
+  my ($nick, $user, $host, $msg) = ($event->{event}->nick, $event->{event}->user, $event->{event}->host, $event->{event}->args);
+  
+  $self->{pbot}->{logger}->log("_Example plugin: got message from $nick!$user\@$host: $msg\n");
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+1;
diff --git a/PBot/Pluggable/_Readme b/PBot/Pluggable/_Readme
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..857ddefe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PBot/Pluggable/_Readme
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Loadable plugins live here.
+
+All files not beginning with an underscore will be automatically loaded
+at bot start-up.
+
+Plugins (including those starting with an underscore) can be manually loaded
+or unloaded with the `plug` and `unplug` commands.  Use `pluglist` to list
+loaded plugins.