We had nearly a week of unseasonably cool temperatures for August, with the highs not exceeding 78?F and moderate rainfall every other day.  Unfortunately, this cool spell seems to be coming to an end.  Today the temperature got up to 88 ?F and there are now 90s in the extended forecast.  

Oh well, I guess I cannot complain.  At least we no longer have the severe drought and 100+ temperatures that we had this time last year.

Quoll

I have been a fan and avid player of the Civilization series ever since Civilization II was released.  I currently own Civilization II, III, IV, and V, in addition to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.  I recently purchased Civilization V and although I am reasonably pleased with many of the gameplay dynamics, I think that some of the strategy elements from Civilization IV have been lost.  In particular, I found the ability to spread religions and their effect on diplomatic modifiers to be an interesting element to Civilization IV.  I am glad to see, however, that Civilization V is still mod-friendly in the same manner as its immediate predecessor.  I find that  the fan-made content in the Civilization series is among the best and most ambitious I have ever seen.

With regards to Civilization IV, which is my favorite of the series thus far, I would have to recommend the Caveman 2 Cosmos mod in particular.  In this mod you lead a civilization from the discovery of fire in the stone age all the way into the events of the distant future.  Among the amazing things that you can do include: domesticating various animals that were not domesticated in our history (Mammoth riders and Deer archers are actually possible units); creating creation myths and animal myths based upon the subdued animals you bring into your camp; fight neanderthals and wild animals as diverse as pigeons, mammoths, sabre-tooth tigers, and quolls; create religions as diverse as druidism and Scientology; create different settler types as your technological progress advances; become more able to support larger empires as your social knowledge advances; and much, much more.

It can be found here:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/caveman2cosmos

I also really like the theme song to the mod:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6wlTDPiPU  

I am a voracious reader, so it is a bit difficult to narrow down my favorites.  But I would have to say that my favorite authors for fictional works include Richard Adams, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

One to Ten by Van Canto

Welcome back.

Band: Arcade Fire
Album: Neon Bible

How about a "G"?

I would have to choose the Great Valley.  A place with no carnivorous dinosaurs (except Chomper, of course) and plenty of food and water is obviously a rare commodity in the Land Before Time universe.

Of couse i don't mind.
My first experience with it was the traditional game with dices,we played 3 editio D&D,and I have all my books from that edition.Later I made a very good use of them in pc games too.It has been a while snce I last played tabletop,It seems I soon will  have the chance again.

For PC games I would recomend:
Planescape: Torment-very unique places and characters,and I think uses 2 edition rules

Icewind Dale-It's like Baldur's Gate,with 2 edition rules and similar graphic.

Neverwinter Nights-3 edition rules,better graphic than the other two,but a little weird too.I have to admit this is my favorite series.If you played through the campign,you can downland free modules to it made by other people,or you can create your own.It's like they(or you)are the game mester,becose it has the toolset you can create modules with.With the two expansions (Shadows of Undrentide,Hordes of the Underdark)You can have classes like pale master,and you can reach lvl 40 and use epic level spells(summoning a dragon or shoting a hellball is FUN)Also you can turn friendly fire on or off,so you won't be baking yourself with your own fireballs(a thing I amnaged to do in Baldur's Gate ) An advice:you can have henchmans or summoned minions with it,but if you want it to be a little harder don't use them.I think it makes the game too easy.If you decide to try it out,feel free to ask me if you have any probems playing it without companions.
modules

Neverwinter Nights2-3.5,graphically this is the best,and it has the same adventages as the neverwinter nights 1(modules).I haven't played a lot with it yet,but so far I liked.It has two expansions too(Storm of zehir and Mask of the Betrayer),which increase the level cap to I think 40,and adds classes I even  never heard of(like favored soul).I haven't tried playing it without companions,but you can have 4 here with full controll of them,and they have much more personalities then in the 1.
Modules
Also,they even made the whole Baldur's Gate into a module here.

Thanks for the recommendations!  I will definitely have to check them out.  I have heard of Neverwinter Nights, but I have not yet had the chance to play it.  Turning friendly fire on or off would be a nice option.  I can relate to accidentally scorching your companions in Baldur's Gate.