I've scanned and printed out relevant character creation pages before, placing them in page covers in their own character creation binder. Not every single thing, like skills or attributes, but the important stuff (e.g. general steps, special powers, other stuff that's not immediately apparent by name or unique to the game). I've also been known to type up my own abbreviated character creation stuff for not quite-as-complex concepts.
The downside is, of course, this takes massive amounts of time to do, not to mention printer wear and tear. Also, I would usually be wary about copying the book, but the binder stays with me at all times; it's not like I'm giving out copies of the material for free for the players to take home. And ye gads does it speed things up to have two copies of something. Especially if one of those somethings can have pages removed to be further split as needed.
If you do have laptops/tablets for reading PDFs, you can also buy legal copies of many games at DriveThruRPGs. They're usually already discounted from the physical price, and the site loves to have sales, so if your players keep an eye out, they can pick it up on the cheap.
And of course, there's always scouring used book stores/websites to pick up gently used stuff, either as backups for yourself or for your players to snag. That's where most of my collection comes from.
edited 16th Apr '12 9:12:52 PM by Doryna
We use (I say 'we', but I really mean 'the group I used to play with') PD Fs on iPads or iPhones. Same with character sheets.
This is primarily a product of someone doing the math and coming up with "If you buy the tablet instead of the books, you'll have matched the cost of the tablet at about twenty books..."
Yeah...should've mentioned that doing a game over IRC rather than face-to-face is pretty much my only option. And I do buy all my gaming materials at DriveThruRPG. (The bit about "letting them borrow the physical book" was just a "for instance" - I don't actually have any physical gaming books. ^_^;)
edited 17th Apr '12 2:14:20 AM by Ryusui
To get around the character generation problem, I do char-gen one one one and one at a time, in private sessions before the main game starts. This gives me plenty of time to focus on the individual, help newbies with their questions and make sure I have a very good handle on what each person is playing.
I actually required players to source, scan and print the rules for their Contracts and any complicated Merits in my Changeling The Lost chronicle. This worked out to the player's benefit and none of them have complained about it...it actually speeds play and reduces index-scanning time.
All of us have spent enough money on White Wolf products that I don't feel bad about a few downloads for the sake of enjoying the game.
If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~When I was in an Aberrant campaign, we had one hard-copy, plus my binder with various printouts and custom index tabs, plus three people whose laptops were regularly within easy reach.
When I ran a BESM game, rather than ban specific powers* I gave various pre-gen options that could be fairly well mix-and-match.
Every game I've run, I have had all the interested players do character creation at the same time, so that I can answer all questions once*, everyone can bounce ideas off each other for shared backstories, and avoid horning in on anyone's coveted niche. I view all-thief parties as a challenge for Final Fantasy, not tabletop games.
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

One thing I realize that's holding me back from trying to run another game is that for most of them, character creation pretty much needs the manual.
The nice thing about running Dont Rest Your Head was that the rules were easy to explain: character creation takes only a couple of paragraphs and gameplay is easy to explain on-the-fly. But for something like, say, Spirit Of The Century, which I've been looking into, skills and stunts take up over a third of the 300-plus-page manual - there's practically no way I can convey that much information without actually giving the players my PDF of the manual.
And I know that technically giving them the PDF is not that dissimilar from, say, letting them borrow the physical book. But I'm still a little uncomfortable with it; From a Certain Point of View, it's aiding and abetting piracy, and I want the people who make these games to get their fair share. In the same breath, though, it's unfair to ask a potential player to shell out $5-20 (or more) so they can play a game they might not even like in the long run.
I just want to know what everyone else thinks here: when the whole party needs access to the manual, do you just share the PDF with them, or find some other way to convey vital character creation information? Or do you Take a Third Option, explain the basics, and wing it?
edited 16th Apr '12 7:33:44 PM by Ryusui