Welcome, [@Virgil] and [@Kingfisher]; glad to have your interests.

To answer your questions: 

1. Dice rolls are only used for large and complex situations, often those that involve numerous players and characters. The dice allows for an impartial solution when multiple parties are involved, which means ease of coordination and less disagreement. For smaller encounters, players have total freedom to play out the scenes as they desire. 

2. Around eight for the initial recruitment. Depending on the amount of interests, this number may go up or down. The application will be competitive; not first come first serve.