Index: stand/lua/core.lua
===================================================================
--- stand/lua/core.lua
+++ stand/lua/core.lua
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@
 
 
 -- Globals
--- try_include will return the loaded module on success, or false and the error
--- message on failure.
+-- try_include will return the loaded module or true on success (module loaded
+-- or file does not exist), or false and the error message on failure.
 function try_include(module)
 	if module:sub(1, 1) ~= "/" then
 		local lua_path = loader.lua_path
@@ -88,11 +88,27 @@
 			module = module .. ".lua"
 		end
 	end
-	if lfs.attributes(module, "mode") ~= "file" then
-		return
+
+	-- If the file doesn't exist, just pretend we succeeded... if it does
+	-- exist but it's not a regular file, then that's an actual error.
+	-- try_include doesn't guarantee that it won't trip over weird entries,
+	-- just that it won't trip over nonexistent entries.
+	local mode = lfs.attributes(module, 'mode')
+	if not mode then
+		return true
+	elseif mode ~= "file" then
+		return nil, module .. " is not a regular file."
+	end
+
+	local function unwrap_result(res, mod, ...)
+		if res then
+			return mod or true, ...
+		else
+			return res, mod
+		end
 	end
 
-	return dofile(module)
+	return unwrap_result(pcall(dofile, module))
 end
 
 -- Module exports
Index: stand/lua/loader.lua
===================================================================
--- stand/lua/loader.lua
+++ stand/lua/loader.lua
@@ -49,7 +49,13 @@
 if color.isEnabled() then
 	printc(core.KEYSTR_RESET)
 end
-try_include("local")
+local res, err = try_include("local")
+if not res then
+	-- Our error object may not be as helpful as we wanted... we'll try
+	-- to stringify it in case a local object is trying to error() some
+	-- odd non-stringable object (e.g., a table).
+	print("Local module failed, error: " .. tostring(err))
+end
 password.check()
 if not core.isMenuSkipped() then
 	require("menu").run()