Tips for a game set in a modern day 3rd world civil war?

>There are no goodguys
You can generally assume that anyone supported by an outside force will at least cook people alive for funsies.

It's really just my inherent bitterness and suspicion of any and all authority figures talking, don't mind me

The higher-ups of every single faction are in it for the cash. So are most of the soldiers. These are people who have spent their entire lives worrying about where the next meal is going to come from and their first priority is always going to be getting rich enough to never have to worry about that ever again.

Look at what's happening in Venezuela (no actual civil war yet but the country is on the verge of collapse), Nigeria, Libya, Syria, etc.

There are countless groups vying for power, The "Good" guys are just short of being monsters, The "Bad" guys are being funded by their enemies, Corporations are involved somehow, The nation in question is nothing but a way for the bigger international rivals to show off their might and political philosophy.

The thing to remember about third world nations is that they never got out of the rule of the clan. Laws don't really mean anything to them in the way that they do to us, or at least they are couched within the context of who belongs to what groups. There are separate rules for in and out groups and there is no consistency other than the necessity of treating your clan well and other clans poorly, unless you are in some kind of marriage alliance.

The book to read about this is Rules of the Clan by Mark Weiner, but I'm having trouble finding a pdf of it. Here is the pdf of the book that inspired his. Early History of Institutions by Henry Sumner Maine is a very important work of 19th century sociology, before it turned into the shit that it is today. This should be the foundation from which you try to understand how and why societies with weak states operate and organize the way that they do.

These two are really spot on.

For third world nations Tribal and ethnic divisions become easy areas to ignite new violence. Also all of these different groups/clans/tribes may very well hold really long grudges that may sub or conciously influence some of their members.

Also Infrastructure should not be great. There should be spots in the cities where it is good or "reliable" and as you get farther out it can become spotty, dependent on one source or non-existent.

You want information to be scarce. Not everyone will have internet and many will be relying on radio or even newspapers or gossip so some pockets of the region/country may be completely oblivious to what the actual situation is ala some still think one group controls their area when in reality that group pulled out a week or 2 ago.

Corruption is big. Among different groups and among outside groups like aid or intervening nations. Also there can be stages of intervention from the international community starting with observers being sent in, followed by on the ground peacekeepers( more on this soon), then by certain nations providing intel/arms/training, followed by outright international armed intervention to either establish peace between all groups or take out one side.

For peacekeepers, if keeping it based on realism like UN peacekeepers, they should be relatively powerless, not really that well armed and not that many of them plus many may be bad hombres. However they have implicit protection of being representatives of the international community so actions against them will basically guarantee that the nation whose peacekeepers were killed will take serious action like cutting off any aid, or even retaliation.

Also there should be scarcity of supplies the longer it goes on. when a third of the country is an active warzone you can bet people will go hungry.

Finally remember to make everyone as human as possible. Every side should have good, bad and horrid.

EVERY faction in a civil war does something on that level at least a few times, bro, even the more likable ones. The moral scale in this case is this size of the human BBQs involved.

Also, generally all factions have outside support to some degree.

Came here to post this

This might sound weird, but for the sake of making it gamey take a look at Mount and Blade. It's set in a medieval low fantasy but the concepts are perfect for a backwater country engulfed in civil war.

-Pseudo-feudalism should be in effect. Most rulers should be warlords of some type who are cobbled together into larger factions.
-Make sure to have more than two major factions at war. Five should be enough to create the level of chaos necessary.
-The local economy should be boned. Anything that is not swarming with troops or sitting behind some kind of defense system should be constantly out of supplies.
-Raiding should be prevalent. Bandits should be everywhere, and the major factions should be constantly looting small villages that belong to their enemies. Small villages should sometimes be burned, and sometimes just switch hands for a few weeks.
-Warbands. Big battles are not what you want. Most combat should be small disorganized units fighting each other with the occasional grouping together for a big push.
-Huge numbers of mercenaries should be involved. Makes things fun for the players. Mercs also allow for enemies who are higher tier to be involved. If the players get the point where local militias are too easy to fight, throw in some elite mercenaries who are getting paid a fortune in the raw resources that the region has to offer like oil or gold.
-The players should be prompted toward making their own warband in order to survive (unless they are planning on doing some kind of undercover work).

I've always wanted to run a game like this. Players should have the option of being wandering mercs, local heroes defending villages, bloodthirsty raiders, sworn guns to a larger power, or even bandit hunters who loot the looters.

Do you have a particular 3rd world country in mind?

There will be ethnic cleansing. Mass graves, military hardware in the hands of breakaway faction or paramilitaries. Low-intensity fights, like sporadic sniper fire. Maybe a no-fly zone above the country.

Look into the 5Core rules.

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is it ever china v russia?

will your game be set in a world that is a fictionalized version of our own ie with americans, russians, and jihadis?
or will it be set in a fantasy world where the nation in question has reached the level of a modern day 3rd world country?

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