Here it is! Fabled Lands' very own inventory equipment window v.1.0 :) An improvement from the demo earlier this summer, you now have a separation of your backpack and equipped items. This gives the desired increase of inventory space. The rework of the item system from last week enabled me to transition to this classic rpg approach.
When I re-read the rules of the gamebooks I am adapting again I saw that most items that modified your abilities required you to select only one of them, i.e. you have to choose either a Mandolin or a Flute to increase your Charisma rather than both. This is a bit underwhelming if you do right click Equip/Unequip on each item that modifies an ability type and there are 6 of them... So a dedicated equipment slot would be a great solution to the UX impediment.
With my reworked combat system I could also take advantage of the usage of different armor types such as helmets, chest armor, rings, etc. for raw defence boost and shields for blocking.
So this brought up the number of equipped slots to a nice number that can actually serve as a proper RPG mannequin.
And I think that the increased inventory space that way for Adventure Gear, Consumable and Quest items is a big quality of life change as I always struggled after 2 hours of game time what to carry and what to throw on the ground. But most importantly the balance with ability checks is kept mostly intact.
My ultimate desire is when I iterrate on my inventory system next time, I'd add stackable items. There are already items with charges that I haven't properly implemented yet. Also, stackable items would allow me to introduce ammo like arrows and bolts for ranged weapons. Aside from loving the concept myself from purely old-school RPG perspective, ranged weapons are a bit OP at the moment. Having arrows that take up your precious inventory space would really help in that area.