Hmmmm.  The ones I've seen don't need that many maps, I don't think, even though they have 3 parts.  That said, if you mean that they have one map for diffuse, one map for SSS color, and one map for SSS distribution, you can use the technique without all that, the same way you would with one SSS component.  Just use flat color for SSS and let the distribution be uniform. 

Skin shading is basically diffuse, reflective and specular (basically the same thing, since specular highlights are meant to fake reflections of lights), dermal SSS (which is yellowish and wide, but not deep), and subdermal SSS (which is red and smaller, but deep).  Even if you don't have maps, dealing with the two completely different types of SSS separately can generally give you better results than just using one type of SSS.

edited to add: And I'm definitely with you on looking at Blender and Poser for the future.  I still covet Vue, but the more I look at the Nature Academy images, the more I wonder if I couldn't learn to use Blender instead.  Especially since they added the Ivy Generator and Sapling, and now the Ocean simulator is in the works.  I'm sure Vue is a much more optimal tool for environment building, but since I do most of my other types of work in Blender anyway...