[Psientist]

Bandarlover:
Here's my suggestion. Don't even start with a nation - start even simpler by just modding a couple of items, monsters, or spells. I started with a new pretender!

Don't restrict your modded monsters/items/spells by nation. Don't worry about graphics - use the #copyspr to copy graphics from an existing unit (check out the various Units View maps to get the numbers).

Play and tweak.

That way, you can have a simple mod up and running in a few minutes. Then you can start building around a theme and get more ambitious.