TEXT:  Blackjack's Guide To Bitter Gamemastering #8 
  Branson Hagerty (Blackjack's Shadowrun Page http://shadowrun.html.com/users/blackjack/) Posted January 05, 1998 
  I’m dedicating this issue of Blackjack’s Guide to all of those thousands of poor NPCs that have been
  wasted countless times in countless games over the relatively short number of years the game of
  Shadowrun has been in existence. I’ve never been a spectacularly big fan of deceased non-player
  characters and have prepared a few suggestions on how you Bitter GMs out there can keep the NPCs
  alive longer than the duration of a few die rolls. While the common solution to NPC fatalities seems to
  involve the use of tank-like body armor and weapons whose barrels could be used as sewage conduits,
  this half-assed fix often results in something even worse than dead NPCs - dead PCs. So, here’s a few
  suggestions on how your NPCs can get the upper hand while refraining from creating situations that
  generate numerous PC and NPC corpses. The cemeteries of Seattle are already overflowing with them. 
  Retreat 
  This may not sound like a very good way to help your NPCs win, but the simple act of retreating will
  often baffle the PCs so thoroughly that they begin to pull some boneheaded maneuvers. When a group of
  PCs and a few NPCs are hunkered down in a hallway tossing several kilograms of ammo at each other,
  the sudden disappearance of the opposition generates an interesting bit of disarray - not to mention
  paranoia. Remember: NPC guards, mercs, hired runners, etc. are often fighting on their home turf. They
  know the layout of the building right down to the air ducts and by retreating they give themselves a
  chance to mount a new attack, resulting in a battle that isn’t merely based on surprise. Most fire-fights
  erupt simply because two opposing forces bump into each other while walking down a corridor, sewer,
  etc. While the PCs tend to hammer away at their opponents in such a situation, the NPCs have the
  additional option of using their knowledge of the ‘battleground’ to create a strategy not based on the
  tossing of bullets. 
  Variety 
  When I say ‘variety’, I’m not referring to the traditional construction of a combative NPC force (i.e. a
  few people with guns, one or two with magic, somebody with heavy armor, etc.). I’m referring to the
  various tactics, spells, weapons, appearances, etc. utilized by each individual NPC. It’s really easy to sit
  down and crank out a group of NPC guards with the normal archetype spread. But such a simplistic view
  of NPC group construction usually results in a group of NPCs whose skills involve direct combat and
  little else. When a GM limits his or her combative options by creating such a group, you end up with
  NPC/PC encounters that result in little else than bloodshed by the gallon. 
  This is why it’s important to remember the wide variety of options a GM has when creating combative
  NPCs. Mundane guards need not be armed with the traditional pistol/SMG combo; they can utilize
  squirts, grapple guns, stun sticks, exotic bladed weaponry, etc. Magicians can utilize unconventional or
  custom spells, deploy watchers to mess with the PCs heads, etc. If the GM doesn’t want to mess up the
  PCs too badly they can arm the NPCs with everything from stun rounds to gas grenades. Not only does
  this variety of weapons create more interesting, and often less deadly, combat, it also creates a hell of a
  lot of PC confusion when they realize that they can no longer predict exactly what they’re going to be up
  against. A locked bullet barrier won’t do any good if the opposition carries crossbows as a side arm. 
  Scary Toys 
  One of the best things about GMing is that you get to play with a whole bunch of neato toys that the PCs
  
  will probably never get their hands on. As long as the weapon is at least remotely technologically feasible,
  the GM is pretty much free to pull whatever weapon they want right out of their ass. Use this freedom to
  create unique stun weaponry, or weapons that create a frightening show but posses low lethality. If
  you’re afraid that the PCs might get hold of the weapon should they kill off the NPCs, just remember that
  you always have to option of saying that the batteries in the Sonic Knockdown 2k are extremely
  advanced and rare and were built in a factory in Peru that - whoops - mysteriously blew up last week. 
  Be Flexible 
  Remember that your NPC sheet (if you use an NPC sheet) is not written in stone. There’s really nothing
  stopping you from bumping up the attributes of an NPC if the PCs are stronger than you thought or
  exchanging an NPCs heavy pistol for an automatic shotgun with stun rounds. You can also toss in
  additional NPCs if you feel you need them (for some reason a lot of GMs seem to forget about this
  obvious little pointer). Just be careful that you don’t start tossing in MP Lasers because you’re pissed off
  at how easily the PCs ripped through your last group, and - always remember this - make all changes
  BEHIND the GM screen. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadowrun [multi]/EXTRAS/GM Tips and Suggestions/BITR8.pdf