LPMuds.net

I was at work daydreaming about creating my MUD (hey, my job is BORING!). I was thinking of the particular systems that I would like to create and how I could implement them.  I remember reading some really cool things in the code vault and about some nice features other existing MUDs already have.  Now, I was wondering just how far I could push DS. Like, how complicated of a feature could I create. Like here's one of my ideas. (What follows is somewhat of a brain dump):

Players will be able to forage the lands for plants that can be used in cooking, alchemy, poisons, etc. Each plant will have a preferred time of day to bloom, season to grow and maximum harvest amount. Skilled players can harvest seeds and grow in private gardens, with the most rare plants requiring the most care.  Players will have the ability to completely wipe out plants for the season if they are not careful with their foraging. The skill of the player and a little luck will determine the quality of the harvested plant. And the quality of all ingredients will effect the overall outcome of the product. Each plant will have a certian properties that the players can mix and match into custom products. For example, nightcap root, when ground, can boost the potency of poisons and quickens their effects. Black fungus will cause the victim's limbs to slowly grow numb.  Fennel leaf attacks the immune system.  So, given those ingredients, one could make an extremely potent poison that complete numbs a victim using nightcap root + black fungus or a poison that both slow numbs the limbs and makes you increasingly sick by mixing the fennel + fungus. Or, mix all three and someone's really in trouble.

This isn't the most complex example, but it seems like it would require a bunch of work. My question is could something like this (and more) be done?

Hello! I guess this may be the wrong time to ask questions since I haven't read too much of the documentation.  I'm just so excited to start learning (is a huge nerd).  I heard O'Reily's Head First series is pretty good, so I picked up Head First Programming and Head First Object Oriented Design and Analysis - I think those are the names, or pretty close.

I took a beginner's C++ class, but had to drop out because of personal issues. But, I got up to IF/Else looks - yea, not much.  Anyway, I would like to actually learn something. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to get those books. So, that's the background. Here's the questions:

About how much programming should I be familiar with to get into LPC?  I know, I'd like to start very small. But, I'd like to have as little frustration as possible. 

Also the Head First: Programming book teaches with Python? Will that help or confuse me, when dealing with LPC.

I thought I had more questions, but the rest can be answered when I read the docs. Thanks!