Pyramid Review
Dead From Above (for Weird War II/d20)
Published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Written by John R. Hopler & Aaron Rosenberg
Illustrated by Chris Appel, Cheyenne Wright and Scott Roller
64 pages; $15.00
Dead From Above is the air combat supplement for the Weird War: Weird War II setting from Pinnacle Entertainment Group, which uses the d20 system. Aerial combat was barely touched upon by the core rulebook, Blood on the Rhine, with just the inclusion of the Pilot character class and the airman variant of the Grunt class. An abstract system was given in the Hell in the Hedgerows adventure anthology, though even the authors you suggested that Dead From Above be used instead.
Behind Chris Appel's fun cover, Dead From Above is nicely laid out with a range of art that really captures the fear of being attacked in the air by something supernatural. One problem is that the art does not always leave room for the text, sometimes crushing words into a jumble of letters. To be blunt, this has happened in previous supplements from Pinnacle, and since this is easily corrected with whatever desktop publishing software they are using, it is something they need to look at.
Dead From Above is divided into four chapters, containing the rules, a selection of aircraft, a scenario, and an aerial bestiary. Chapter one is also titled "Dead From Above," and contains all of the rules for both characters and flying. It presents the Pilot class from Blood on the Rhine in expanded detail, along with . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 8, 2002
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