The following is true: The largest spontaneous karma amount I have ever awarded during a game was the 10 points I gave to a character known as Mr. Bungle when, upon finishing a run and returning home, he announced that he was going to use the toilet. I had been gamemastering for four years before that moment and never once had anybody ever even hinted of taking care of one of the human, or metahuman, body's most basic functions.

But this article isn't about toilets, although a Shadowrun-Toilet writing would be rather entertaining. My main subject of concern, however, is the advantages and proper use of downtime. Downtime is the period of idle a character experiences between shadowruns, a period of time which is often used for healing or the replacement of missing appendages, but a segment which may also be utilized in a freeform way allowing characters to engage in activities not normally appropriate while on an actual run. I'm aware that many gamemasters don't even utilize such periods of time, they simply bounce their players from one run to the next, giving them only enough time to buy more ammo and perhaps surgically replace their eyeballs. I'm a big fan of downtime because A: It doesn't require that I write up anything even remotely resembling a run, and B: It gives the characters a chance to relax a bit before Mr. Johnson calls them up again, offering 100,000 nuyen if they can acquire a sample of harpy snot. Although I enjoy reason A simply because I'm lazy, reason B is much more important in regards to the game.

Downtime is important for the following reasons:

Roleplaying: More often than not a run doesn't provide much of an opportunity for a character to explore the finer points of their personality. A character has, or should have, interests which simply don't jive with shadowrunning. A Bruce Lee fan can't stop off for a triple feature in the middle of an extraction against a remote Aztlan corporation. A shaman who enjoys growing flowers finds little time to engage in such activities while tromping through the sewers looking for Grognark, the much feared god of the Redmond Barrens underworld. A connoisseur of fine wine won't have the opportunity to toss back some samples while transporting a shipment of experimental C-16 across the UCAS. By taking some time out to engage in such "mundane" activities a character gains a better understanding of who they really are, beyond the guns and the fireballs and the combat programs.

Contact Building: It takes a lot more than a simple introduction to acquire a contact, at least in my game. It is a delicate balance of give and take, a balance which is often difficult to establish on the spur of the moment. If a character finds out they need a Decker contact in the middle of a major shadowrun, and if they don't have one already, they're screwed. You can't just walk into a bar, sit down next to somebody with a keyboard, and say "Hi, chummer! My name's Dweenlemark. Hey, you would happen to know where I can get a map of the Renreku security construct, would you?". No. You'd better know this person, and know them well. They're not going to start spilling top secret information at the drop of a hat...for all they know you're working FOR Renreku. This is why, during your down time, you have to work on building these people's trust, getting to know them, perhaps even doing a few favors yourself. The, when it hits the fan, they'll remember you. What you did for them. And why they should do something for you.

Getting To Know The Neighborhood: A shadowrunner doesn't know everything, not even when it comes to their own town. I don't care if somebody's lived in Seattle for 180 years, there are some streets they haven't seen, some places they haven't been, and some places they aren't welcome because nobody knows who they are. The last thing a runner needs, after the pop out of the sewer and onto a remote, desolate street, is to have no clue as to where they are and no better idea of where they're going. During downtime runners should do all they can to remedy this problem by visiting these remote places, poking their heads into a few bars, and trading shotguns (not shotgun blasts, just the shotguns) with local gangs until they feel confident that they could wake up from a dead sleep in this area wearing nothing but their pajamas and still have a place to go. Neighborhoods are very suspicious of strangers. Make damn sure you're not a stranger.

Independent Endeavors: The runs handed to you by Mr. Johnson aren't the only way to make money. Every once in a while a street sam might come across an interesting weapons facility while fleeing through a sewer, or a decker might scan a neato piece of data while perusing a government node, only the nature of the run they were on at the time didn't give them the opportunity to engage in a personal treasure hunting stint. Downtime provides an excellent opportunity for the runners to go back and get these little prizes while not jeopardizing their reputation. No Johnson wants to find out that their runners failed a run because they took a hiatus to recover the Lost Talisman of St. Olaf when they should have been extracting an important scientist.

General Everyday Realism: Every once in a while it's nice to see a shadowrunning group shed their fully automatic weapons, dress up kind of snazzy, and hit a nightclub for no other reason than to hit a nightclub. Or go get some soy burgers. Or get some ice cream. Or rearrange the living room. Or get their car painted a different color because they're sick of "Arrest Me Red". There are a million little things people do everyday that are virtually ignored during the game. I'm not saying you should do all million of them, but taking a hot shower now and then does a lot to remind you that this fantasy world still consists of 90% reality.

If you ever want a crash course in downtime, start out as part of a new group while I'm GMing. What you get is 100% downtime until YOU find a way to snag yourself that first run and build up a reputation. As your rep improves, the runs come faster, and the downtime lessens. I refer to this as "Motivational Gamemastering". You have to get yourself Motivated, or I'll Gamemaster you into starvation.

And on a final note I'd like to address my favorite aspect of downtime: If you use it properly, you won't be able to tell it's there. I know this contradicts what I preciously said about keeping downtime and the runs separate, but it's so difficult to merge them successfully that most of the time separation is what occurs. But since so much of what you gain in downtime can be utilized during an actual run you may soon get to the point that the whole shadowrun-everyday life mix begins to blend together. A run ends, but it doesn't end, because you go back and grab what you missed, using contacts you gained while not on a run, but used while on a run, in a section of town you visited once, and ran in twice, when Mr. Johnson called, and said there was run down the block, but not for another hour, so you went to a movie, and one of your contacts was there, he gave you some info, which helped on the run, which you finished early, allowing you to go back to where you had your last run, which was a block away from this run, after which you met your Johnson at a bar, owned by a contact, which introduced you to a gang, which saved your butt from another gang, which allowed you to get home in one piece, on the way receiving a call about another run, but not till tomorrow night, so you stop for some ice cream, head home, smooth out the details with your group, watch your favorite trid show, which has a commercial for a gun which would be great for tomorrow's run, after which you take a shower, use the toilet, and go to sleep.