Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

I just bought Campaign Cartographer 3, so that I could try my hand at map-making, and was thinking about a neat scenario that, if it wouldn't be too hard to make, I could base a map around. Keep in mind, I have never modded anything, so it may be too much for me to handle.

Here's the idea. There are eight artifacts (could be rings, staves, etc.) that are needed to rule the world. Each one is hidden in one of eight continents, and each corresponds to one of the magic paths. So, for example, there is a Wand of Fire hidden somewhere in Continent A (The Land of Fire), so everyone who is playing knows they need to look for a Fire 4 site on that continent. Once someone has discovered the site, they would then possess the Wand of Fire, and could use it as a very powerful miscellaneous item. Here's the kicker... on the next turn, everyone gets a message saying "This player has the Wand of Fire!", so it becomes public knowledge that this person is now the Frodo to the other players' Sauron.

You can win by either destroying everyone else through standard victory, or by owning all eight artifacts. So, more or less, it would be a combination treasure hunt/capture the flag scenario.

How hard would this be to mod? Is it even possible?

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

Anything is possible, its computers. However, Im pretty sure it would take more than a mod. It would involve mod commands, map commands, and some server side tricks. But it can be done as a Scenario game on a server.

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

So basically, it's over my head lol

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

You can make special magic sites and hide them on a map, but you can only do things that sites currently do. So perhaps rather than giving you an item (no sites do that), the fire site would allow you to recruit an awesome fire monster or fire mage. As for the messages part, you'd just agree with all the players beforehand that they had to announce when they found one of the powerful sites.

Edit: Also, I meant to say: sounds very fun! :)

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

I think the server side can see the gains in the debug log (or at least the taking of the province). And if you had a GM in the game by use of a game master mod like watcher.dm or one of the others then you could have it send the message to everyone

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

Could you randomize the sites so that the fire site shows up only on the fire continent?

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

If the site itself can't spit out the object, would there be a way to use this info to send the object to them on the next turn?

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

I didnt think of that. Sure. the GM "nation" (often referred to as Pantokrator) could send the item in a message. That nation could start out with all of the special items, watch for the taking of the province, then send the item with some sort of thematic message. The tactic has been used before to create new events.

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

So, big question... how much work would this involve, keeping in mind I've never done something like this? Are the mod commands hard to learn?

Re: Is this possible, and how hard would it be?
 

IMO, the mod commands themselves are relatively easy, especially if you've ever done any scripting or programming before. The only hard parts are a few of the more esoteric things like multi-form units or spell modding (which is still largely a matter of trial and error for non-basic effects.)

If you wanted to do the "event" type behavior you describe, though, you'd need to go outside the realm of what's documented in the mod commands and do some dynamic modification of the mod files, e.g. something like the scripting framework Illuminated one posted here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=43892

That would take a bit more effort.