Hello! Excited to hear you're playing Bracing for the Storm, I hope my answers have come in time. They're good questions. I'd like to make them more explicit in a future version of the game.
1. Yes, as many location slots as characters.
2. Yes, the 'inventory grid' and the 'party bag' or 'shared bag' are the same. The party bag should be sized to 3 times the number of players (so that everyone could in theory meet their goals but only just).