So this might be nitpicky, but… do clothes and containers count as items for encumbrance purposes? I guess I don’t mean for strange cases where you decide to get 20 bags, but just in general.
I ask in part because several of the starting packages would be, for example, just under 7 stone if you don’t count them, but just above 7 stone if you do. Are these packages at all “optimized” to keep characters from crossing an encumbrance threshold, or are they just a decent selection of starting goodies that we might need to pare down to keep from being weighted down?
As for containers: these add to your encumbrance. you carry them - as do all items that are stored in a container. A container is simply there to be able to carry items around - image your character trying to carry around rations, wineskin, rope, and a thousand other things using just his two arms…
That said. I houserule, that items stored in a backpack count as half encumbrance. They still count full for container capacity. As an example, a backpack hold up to 4 stones, that would be 6x4 = 24 daggers. But these dagger would only encumber the character as if he were carrying twelve (2 stone) of them.