diff --git a/cmd/load/main.go b/cmd/load/main.go
index 1b645a4..80ccc80 100644
--- a/cmd/load/main.go
+++ b/cmd/load/main.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 
 	"ur.gs/chaos-gate/internal/data"
 	"ur.gs/chaos-gate/internal/maps"
+	"ur.gs/chaos-gate/internal/sets"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	loadMapsFrom("Maps")
 	loadMapsFrom("MultiMaps")
+	loadSets()
 }
 
 func loadData() {
@@ -109,3 +111,17 @@ func loadMapsFrom(part string) {
 		)
 	}
 }
+
+func loadSets() {
+	setsPath := filepath.Join(*gamePath, "Sets")
+	log.Printf("Loading sets from %s", setsPath)
+
+	mapSets, err := sets.LoadSets(setsPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatalf("Failed to parse %s/*.set as map sets: %v", setsPath, err)
+	}
+
+	for key, mapSet := range mapSets {
+		fmt.Printf("	* `%s`: Defs=%#v len(palette)=%d\n", key, mapSet.Defs, len(mapSet.Palette))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/doc/formats/index.md b/doc/formats/index.md
index 194bff8..37a14c6 100644
--- a/doc/formats/index.md
+++ b/doc/formats/index.md
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ remake.
 * `Save_G/`
     * `*.sav` # savedata, gzip-compressed, custom format
     * `*.txt` # Seems to be a copy of one of Maps/*.txt
-* `Sets/`
+* [`Sets/`](sets.md)
     * `Data.chk` # checksums? Mentions all the .set files
     * `*.set` # plain text, related to maps. Editor has a concept of map sets, which these must be
 * [✓] `SMK/`
diff --git a/doc/formats/sets.md b/doc/formats/sets.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..906fbee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/formats/sets.md
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# Set format information
+
+`*.set` files seem to act as a palette of objects for a [`.map`](maps.md) file.
+The map file loads a set, and can then reference objects by a small number.
+
+Since a maximally-filled map file seems to be able to reference 91,000 * 4
+objects, this is a necessary optimization for 1998-era hardware.
+
+## Structure
+
+These files are plain-text.
+
+We handily have a `template.set`, which looks like:
+
+```
+set template
+
+Defs
+
+40 40 40 80
+
+
+dirt
+h_dirt
+rocks
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank #
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+blank
+# ...
+```
+
+The files are of varying lengths. `template.set` is 220 lines, `map10.set` only
+83.
+
+So it's a line-based format that goes:
+
+* Set description
+* Blank line (optional, missing in `GEN_JUN.set`, `GEN_WAS.set`, others)
+* `Defs`
+* Blank line
+* 4 space-separated numbers, variable between sets
+* At least one blank line, sometimes 2
+* A list of object names, sometimes with # comments on the right hand side
+* They all seem to end with a comment of some sort, e.g. `# meaningless comment`
+
+Questions:
+
+What are the `Defs` for? Is it `Defaults` or `Definitions`? The values are
+quite variable between files.
+
+Is whitespace significant in the list of objects? First assumption is no.
+
+Is it a simple 0-indexed palette or do maps embed an absolute line number?
+
+Do positions in the palette have special meaning? e.g. is a particular range
+always reserved for walls?
+
+Are there any special values that don't appear as files in the `Obj/` directory?
+`blank.obj` exists, so I expect not.
+
+Once the map format is fleshed out a little more, can investigate by creating a
+map with a single object from the set in it and seeing what line that works out
+to be.
+
diff --git a/internal/sets/sets.go b/internal/sets/sets.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a64924e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/sets/sets.go
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+package sets
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+
+	"ur.gs/chaos-gate/internal/util/asciiscan"
+)
+
+type MapSet struct {
+	Description string
+	Defs        [4]byte // TODO: work out what these are for
+
+	// TODO: is there any more structure than this? Should I preserve empty lines?
+	Palette []string
+}
+
+func LoadSets(dir string) (map[string]MapSet, error) {
+	fis, err := ioutil.ReadDir(dir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	out := make(map[string]MapSet, len(fis))
+
+	for _, fi := range fis {
+		filename := filepath.Join(dir, fi.Name())
+		basename := filepath.Base(filename)
+		extname := filepath.Ext(filename)
+
+		// Don't try to load non-.obj files
+		if !strings.EqualFold(extname, ".set") {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		obj, err := LoadSet(filename)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s: %v", filename, err)
+		}
+
+		out[basename] = obj
+	}
+
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+func LoadSet(filename string) (MapSet, error) {
+	var out MapSet
+	var err error
+
+	s, err := asciiscan.New(filename)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+
+	defer s.Close()
+
+	out.Description, err = s.ConsumeString()
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+
+	out.Defs, err = consumeDefs(s)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+
+	for {
+		str, err := s.ConsumeString()
+		if err != nil {
+			if err == io.EOF {
+				err = nil
+			}
+
+			return out, err
+		}
+
+		out.Palette = append(out.Palette, str)
+	}
+
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+func consumeDefs(scanner *asciiscan.Scanner) ([4]byte, error) {
+	var out [4]byte
+
+	expectDefs, err := scanner.ConsumeString()
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+
+	if expectDefs != "Defs" {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf("Couldn't find Defs section")
+	}
+
+	defs, err := scanner.ConsumeString()
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+
+	parts := strings.SplitN(defs, " ", -1)
+	if len(parts) != 4 {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf("Defs section did not have 4 components")
+	}
+
+	for i, part := range parts {
+		n, err := strconv.ParseInt(part, 10, 8)
+		if err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		}
+
+		out[i] = byte(n) // safe as we specify 8 bits to ParseInt
+	}
+
+	return out, nil
+}