How to Expand Your Backpack in Tales of the Shire

In Tales of the Shire, food takes center stage. That’s to be expected for Hobbits, and it’s one of the delights of the game. But in order to make all those delicious meals, you’ll need to carry around a variety of ingredients. When you start your Hobbit life in Bywater, you’ll have just 10 slots in your backpack. That makes for pretty frequent trips home to the Hobbit hole to drop things off in the pantry. Thankfully, you can expand your backpack in Tales of The Shire, if you know how.

Getting more backpack slots in Tales of the Shire isn’t exactly straightforward. There’s no General Store with a new backpack to save up for, or any clear instructions in the game for how to get more room. But it is possible to increase how much you can carry in the game. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to expand your backpack in Tales of the Shire.

Unlock Clubs in Bywater

The Foraging Club is key to upgrading your backpack in Tales of the Shire. But before you can earn progress towards your bigger backpack, you’ll need to help Bywater establish clubs in the first place.

Unlocking clubs is part of the main “Becoming a Village” Tale. Work your way through the main quest tasks of helping Bywater become a village, and you’ll soon be tasked with helping to create clubs. Doing this will require the following steps:

• Convince Old Noakes to lead the Fishing Club
• Talk Lily Cotton into leading the Cooking Club
• Help Delpinium trust that people want a Foraging Club
• Help Rosie Cotton convince Farmer Cotton that she can lead the Gardening Club

Some of these tasks are easier than others, but mostly involve tracking down each person using the Bywater map and talking to them. You can easily find each person by opening up your map, then selecting their icon to track their location. If they’re already part of your active Tale, you should already have a trail of birds to lead you right to the person you need to talk to.

In some cases, you’ll need to complete other tasks, like cooking something for Lily or growing a good crop for Rosie. Once you get everyone bought in, you’ll need to help find the old Club Boards. These are on the wall by the Ivy Bush Inn.

After you uncover the Club Boards, you’ll be able to take on tasks to level up in Fishing, Farming, Cooking, and Foraging. This last club, led by Delphinium, is the key to a bigger backpack.

Level Up in the Foraging Club

Once you unlock clubs, you will have two new tabs in your main menu. These tabs track your current Club Tasks and your progress in leveling up each club. To get 5 extra slots for your backpack, you will need to reach Foraging Club Level 2.

Leveling up clubs involves two things. First, actually doing that club’s activity will earn a small amount of club XP. So, foraging for mushrooms, herbs, and nuts will level up your Foraging Club skill. But the quicker way to get it done is to take tasks from the Club Boards at the Ivy Busy Inn. Completing these tasks earns club points more quickly, letting you level up faster.

Once you level up your Foraging Club tab, go speak to Delpinium Brandybuck. She will reward you with a backpack expansion so you can forage for more mushrooms and herbs. As you reach additional Foraging Club milestones, you’ll unlock more upgrades to expand your backpack even more.