Looking for a lost "Sumer game variant"
 

Hi guys, so, glad I found this place because I am at wits end. I've searched your forums for this already but no dice.

I am looking for a late 80's era DOS game called "Grand Duchy." I am thinking it was likely a clone of Manor or Dukedom, released as shareware over a game compilation subscription service/catalog who's name escapes me right now (I remember that the 5.25" floppies were light gray, however).

Similar to Manor, you have peasants and buy grain and hectares of land. The peasants revolt, you get "dispensations from heaven" from the church if you do well, launch military campaigns, and so on. I recall that unlike the other Sumer variants, this one had a blue background.

Despite this being a rare game, I played it in Virginia and then randomly met friends across the country who also played it when I moved. They have challenged me to find it. I hope you guys can help!
Even if I could find a working copy of Manor, that would be pretty cool.

Kingdom is pretty close, but still... Grand Duchy was its own game. I doubt I'll ever find this one.

If Manor is Basic game by Leon Baradat, I have it. ;) It's in Total DOS Collection already.

Unfortunately, no signs of Duchy.

Guess: maybe you mistaken the name?

Ahh, the name is the only thing that I know is correct, as the fact that it sounded like "douche" (we were like, 11 years old) was one of the more funnier aspects of the game. Thanks for pointing me toward Manor. I downloaded Kingdom (the 1989 version) and that's pretty damn close to my memory of Grand Duchy, but the quest will continue regardless.

My guess is it was shipped on some kind of shovelware.

I am looking through here: http://cd.textfiles.com/directory.html

There is faster way: www.google.com. ;)

I mean, you can force google to search needed site. In your case it will be the search string:

duchy site:cd.textfiles.com

Unfortunately, no, there is no such thing here. I tested it first, when heard about shareware.