I identified so hard with every single thing you said in those first two paragraphs, and I think I just discovered 2 other weak spots.
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As somebody who prefers writing for Steve Jackson Games to self-publishing, I hope not too many people think as you do; it would diminish my royalties, which are my reward for doing the best work I can.
I currently have Sleeping Gods, Roam, Empires of the Void 2 and The Ancient World 2nd ed. ordered to be delivered at various times.
I think there may be something there…
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My weak spot is area control or area majority/influence as BGG now calls it… I am not even necessarily good at it but give me some form of this (favorite examples from my collection include Inis, Root, Terra Mystica & Gaia Project, Spirit Island, Dune and at least 6 of my yet-to-arrive kickstarters also fall into this category) and I will want this game; for bonus cravings combine with unique player powers and/or a hand of beautiful cards and I will hand over the money without hesitation. There are very few of these that I played and didn’t like (but there are)
Sadly, my partner does not enjoy this as much as I do, so it takes a lot of convincing to get these games to the table–even the few coop variants that exist are a hard sell (Spirit Island & Root coop are the only ones I know) and the rest of my local gaming circle aren’t fans either…
But that’s not enough to keep me from backing/buying games that promise to allow me to spread out over a map with my markers, meeples or minis.
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Have you tried El Grande?
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I have. It’s been a few years though–like 15 or so… I believe I enjoyed it but had no idea what I was doing or so. I recently tried to convince the friends who own El Grande to play on TTS but failed to deter them from trying El Dorado instead 
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Nature theme
Pulp anything
Shiny gems that you can hold
Legacy elements
Anything at all related to the book Dune
Absolutely terrible Vampire the Masquerade cash-in games that nobody believes will be any good but I immediately click Buy anyway even on the most expensive kickstarters for the chance that they could recapture even 1% of Vamp 2nd ed.
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I have yet to buy any VTM themed game but there are preorders on one of my online shops for some kickstarter something something heritage that are hard to resist… and whenever any VtM game comes up I drool over it but I am so scared of disappointment… I decide to wait and so far nothing ever popped up again after the Kickstarter.
I backed VTM Heritage, and to be fair it actually looks pretty good.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sweet-lemon/vampire-the-masquerade-heritage
But I also got Prince’s Gambit, and that was exactly as terrible as it appears 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/princes-gambit-casual-vampire-card-game
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For board games, my weak spot is modularity. This is why I bought 504, even though I suspected it wouldn’t be that good.
For RPGs, I’m pretty good at resisting most things because I simply don’t have the time to read the ones I already have. But I am attracted to streamlined, smooth systems, especially if they are reasonably generic, and are not build upon pre-defined classes/archetypes/playbooks.
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Sorry, the next line should read “… but an island can be a component”.
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I believe that’s a dozen or so components…
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I’ll just add “Autumn leaves theme” to my weak spots.
(Sees “Indian Summer” and literally doesn’t care about the gameplay before putting it on a wishlist)
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Definitely don’t check out Bosk then 
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Ooooh. It’s got squirrels.
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Unless his name is Madagascar
Sorry, old habit of making a bit of a niche reference
https://youtu.be/qRLl6Tm1QOY (context)
Went over my friends’ heads when I named my Seafall persona Madagascar Mackay too
Definite weak spot: the game is simply “memorise 7 symbols”, but the box and components, including a play cloth, make me want it even though I have no interest in playing it.
I was listening to the latest NPI podcast yesterday and that did a decent job of inoculating me against it.
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