I love Vampire and played in the OWoD all through the 90's via tabletop and LARP (I preferred tabletop.) I also picked up the Jyhad TCCG when it first came into the market and loved it instantly, but there was a lack of interest here locally so Jyhad and myself have since parted ways. I feel Prince of the City mixes in elements of the TCCG and tabletop strategy games well, with certain aspects (theme and 10d system) of the tabletop game. The result is remarkably fun and can easily kill a boring evening and resurrect itself as one of intrigue and good old fashioned political backstabbing.
If your familiar with the politics than you are familiar with the Primogen and function, if your not than just do what you can to read some online to help yourself along. Anyway, you are a clan Primogen and the Prince has recently died mysteriously and being the ambitious vamp that you are decide this is for the best as you would make a better prince than that joker ever was, but you aren't the only one thinking this way. Your fellow players are other Primogen members grabbing at the throne and you will all help and hinder each other in an effort to gain prestige and ensure you are the new prince before the Danse Macabre draws to much attention and threatens the Masquerade.
Strategy is an important element of this game and you will have to make decisions when to play certain cards and when to help someone else out. Believe it or not you will want to help other players often. Your reason could be to ask for compensation (retainer or equipment) or to avoid a worse result (you'd rather the player they are opposing not control the airport as they have too much influence in that domain already.) You must balance out support for others with bettering yourself with asking/accepting for help.
The clan Primogen are pretty well balanced sporting a particular strength in most cases (Gangrel tend to win unassisted physical challenges and Daeva tend to win unassisted social challenges.) The artwork and miniatures look good and work well with the dark thematic feel. 10 sided dice are included as well as token for vitae and prestige. Games can be set shorter or longer as the players deem fit. Game rules are laid out on character template cards as remainders, so it's relatively user friendly, but expect a mild learning curve on mechanics.
Pros -Fun game that is well balanced and never the same game twice. It encourages player social interaction and rewards innovative thinking. The look and feel of the game are good and the mechanics are more developed than standard tabletop. High replay value. Moderate learning curve, that is rewarded with open play options. Easy to set up and take down. You can work in new players as easily as veteran players.
Cons -Some will not like the strategy aspect of the game and favor the storytelling aspect of tabletop and that is to be expected. There isn't much of a storyline at all and very little room to incorporate one if you wished to. The game works best with 3-5 players, so it's not as ideal for 1-2 players. It's something great to bring to your friends for game night if you don't want to go with a typical chronicle. There is also not much room to extend beyond 5 players as I think it would shake up the balance of the clans.
Overall -This is a pretty good system. I think the value of the game is pretty fair as well. You don't have miniatures and tokens all over with systems like Descent: Journeys in the Dark, but you also don't have a $70+ price tag. I think if you understand roughly what you are getting with this system you'll be satisfied especially if you are a fan of the material to begin with.
