What Paul said.
Important points:
- Only Word can create a normal.dotm template. If you try to make your own you will end up crippling Word.
- You do not have to use macros. However, by not doing so, you are reducing what you can do with Word.
- The normal template that Word builds contains no macros.
You can find more about the normal template and its functions here:
Normal Template.
Why, other than that you do not use macros, do you want to avoid using the normal template that is a part of Word.