Using MBP as web server with many users
I'm sure you can create users manually from command line in OS X, and while I have a large *nix background, I'm only familiar with approaching this from a GUI standpoint in OS X (though like I said, this absolutely doesn't mean it can't be done.)

Simply get on the console or enable remote administration for your OS X user and VNC to the Mac from your desktop.  Or install xRDP on the Mac, which is my personal preference for GUI access from Windows-to-Mac.

From there, just go to System Preferences, and create the user accounts from there.  You can tweak the remote administration access to allow these users or add them to a specific group and give that group SSH access from there.

This will achieve what you're looking to accomplish.  If the basic commands are the same as what you are familiar with, just enable Remote Administration, SSH to the Mac, and do your thing from the command line.