Let's say your character was in the market for a portable, mechanical winch, with rope and a hook and maybe a block pulley included.
What sort of specs would your character want in such a device?
Rope length
Lifting capacity
Weight
Price
etc.

Let's talk numbers.

This question seems backwards. I'd need to know what I'm planning to move before I decided I even want a winch.  Do I need to recover a main battle tank? Lift treasure out of a tomb (and what kind am I expecting to find)? Rescue companions who have fallen into a hole? Does it need to be man portable? Does it go in my covered wagon or my off road exploration vehicle?

https://www.harborfreight.com/
search for what you want and prices/specs at your fingertips

A basic tripod winch for getting up and down a pit or hole can be done relatively cheap with enough capacity to say haul a person up and down.

The main factor is how simple or complex a pulley system you want. If any. You can do it by hand. Good for smaller loads. Not so good for people. You can add a simple wheel pully to the frame. Or you can add the wheel and some sort of crank.

The rest can in say D&D be had with a basic rope and grapple.

The more stuff you add the more bulk and weight you get. If its a dungeon delve then youd want a simple portable tripod, probably with at least a wheel and past that its up to how much you want to lug. Henchmen, porters and retainers can cover this problem easily.

Start with something like this for example.


And then add the assembley for something like this.

What game is this supposed to be used with? The answers to the OP's question are going to depend a lot on the answer to this one.

in AD&D/2e A pulley costs 25gp and weighs 6lb. Does not say how much they can lift, only that they double the lifting ability for each set in use. But need something sturdy to attach to.

That's pretty much entirely correct. A pair of pulleys doubles the lifting capacity (and each additional pair doubles it again in a block & tackle) but halves the distance moved (or doubles the length of rope used). The lifting capacity is entirely dependent on two things: The tensile strength of the rope used for the pulley, and the strength of the attachment point.  A 10mm hemp rope has about 65MPa of tensile str at STP, which will be halved with any knots, but that will still be the point of unless the characters are using a wooden block.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1127333What game is this supposed to be used with? The answers to the OP's question are going to depend a lot on the answer to this one.

I'm brainstorming for something I'm designing, but for purposes of this thread we can just bounce ideas around for fantasy/period-setting games in general.

Quote from: Cave Bear;1127360I'm brainstorming for something I'm designing, but for purposes of this thread we can just bounce ideas around for fantasy/period-setting games in general.

I gotta admit that for most fantasy games, the only numbers I'd care about would be the price for the version capable of doing the job at hand. I just can't see myself wanting to dig much deeper into such an item.