diff --git a/bin/gendb.py b/bin/gendb.py
index ae8428c..1587498 100644
--- a/bin/gendb.py
+++ b/bin/gendb.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def main():
         print("{}".format(e))
 
     # Load in the yaml data
-    with open('basics.yaml') as yl:
+    with open('basics.yaml', 'rb') as yl:
         data = yaml.full_load(yl)
     # call the functions to input to SQL
     do_abilityscore(data['abilityscore'], conn)