I was reading the 'fun suggestions' thread, and the one about maps increasing travel speed got me thinking.
One of the larger complaints is...the islands. I know, some people like having it be 'isolated', but with global Gweths, player ships, and the Fang Cove sea-mammoths, it's really not. I also know that when GMs tweaked the ferry travel time they said doing the barges and ships weren't reasonable, because the aquatic navigation system is disturbingly complex.
So I suggest...air travel. DR has a history of flighted vehicles; two notable ones in the Dwarven history alone, the blimp-balloon-whatever up north. And a giant flying steampunk mechanodragon, but I honestly don't think that really counts. But Hib alone has a fully functional electrical grid; lighter than air mechanisms should have been discovered, so it's not an unreasonable technology for DR.
The base ideal would be faster travel from major cities to the islands; essentially decommission the boats entirely, exempting player vessels, and use the air-travel.
Ideally it would be faster than taking the two mammoths, but slower than a moongate. Cost a bit, say 5 plat per trip (look, you pay for speed; a common hunting ladder takes you to sprites around 15-20th, and you can have 5 plat by then).
From there, it would be cool to see some heist mechanics put in later, where all players could elect to attempt to sneak in, and bust open shipping containers. Appraisal and trading help you evaluate the manifest or containers, hiding avoids guards, locksmithing to open the containers (and/or some which are simply nailed shut), fighting off guards, and so on. If you're caught you suffer a pretty hefty fine (or your ability to use the ship is revoked for X period, or both), and some minor loss in standing with your guild (airship travel is a huge deal, the guild leaders would NOT like you risking losing access to that tool), say they won't let you circle or grab new spells for 2 days real-life time.
Ya, I know, not very likely. But I'm bored on a Sunday.
