I think it'd work, though I added a little more in terms of stakes. Mostly, the stakes are backgrounds, so characters can steal or destroy others' backgrounds.
Also, it annoyed me that the backgrounds don't have a mechanic, so they're gained and lost by Storyteller fiat.
There's a short overview as a primer.
If that sounds like what you're after, I've recreated the original books, and modified them, so I don't have to reference a Google doc for house rules: