I guess I don't get it, when you say you've looked at other peoples themes, and the CustomWPS guide, but don't get it... since there are so many theme examples.
Probably you should start with a _simple_ case. Try this (ONLY this), and expand on it:
This works fine:
%Fl(2,08-Rockfont.fnt)
%Fl(3,12-Adobe-Helvetica-Bold.fnt)
%V(0,16,70,8,2)
Testing 1 2 3
%V(20,24,70,12,3)
Testing 4 5 6