Well the more seeds you start the better so that you can find females, unless you dish out some cash and buy fem'd seeds?

Ur gonna needs lights, CFL's or HID's. I'd say a thermometer, water, reflection such as mylar and fans. A ph test would be a great tool to have to. Pots.
Soil or Hydro?

There can be smell, but you can carbon scrub amoung other things to mask the scent. You can buy strains that don't smell very much as well.