this book is well-written and comprehensive. Some of this was obviously a product of the 90s, like the neighborhood descriptions, but it's overall great. The history sections are amazing and a great read even if I don't end up using them. I absolutely love how this book also gets across the "image" of New York City vs the reality, both of which can be a million things to any of the millions living (or un-living) here. My one minor gripe was the maps. As a New Yorker, I find they only vaguely approximate the city. However, for people not from here it gets the gist across well enough to be used in an RPG, and it's kind of like that with all the "By Night" books. It gives just enough story hooks for any storyteller to make their own unique tale, without dictating plots to you. Also the Charioteer is amazing and should be included in every New York chronicle. The book really fleshes out the city in a way that pushes the PCs to be invested in the setting as opposed to loner munchkins. You have to have connections with someone to survive the night in the Big Apple. The SPCs are well-thought-out and easily useable or not for any story you want to tell also.

It's a great city book, with very detailed history for New York. It helps creating your setting even if you don't want to use the date of 2001, because it'll provide the city's history for you to build upon, it has great ideas for hooks that are anachronistic and can still be used. The NPCs are great as there's no Methuselah out there to get your players and dominate them into submission. It's a good setting for starting characters to thrive, but not a good place for munchkin combat guys because of social ostracism. So I'd say it's pretty good in that regard. All in all I'd buy this in a jiffy, preferably the paper one but if you have an ipad or anything this is a must buy for you New York chronicle.