Paul Beakley  you might have done too good of a job with the opening post because you covered most the things I am looking for. And since my Indie game play is sort of limited I might not have much else to add, but I will try anyhow. 

White Wolf normally has their books front loaded with fiction. I normally skip past all of that in WOD books and save it for last. That much fiction bogs me down right off the bat. 

Like FATE or not, I really like the Dresden Files books. Part of the reason for that is that the book has a running 4th wall breaking, rather meta and self aware commentary from some of the characters of the Dresden Files. It feels like you have a some funny friends explaining the how and why of a complex board game.