Read book 1 at least, not sure if I ever finished book 2 on Royal Road.
RR gets a TON of Gamelit/LitRPG authors. A lot of us started there, more for fun and then threw our books up on Amazon and saw sales. And just kept at it. I can name at least a half dozen who have done the same.
With regard to Patreon, the best way to do it (if you are able to keep writing / releasing regularly) from what I can see is as follows:
- write and release a bunch of chapters first (for free, no PayPal or Patreon needed).
- build up a backlog of chapters that are only available for Patreons.
- keep writing / releasing free chapters while letting people support you on Patreon
- release book 1 while continuing to write book 2. Generally, most of the ones who generate the majority of their money via Patreon have gone wide, leaving their books free rather than taking it to KU.
- continue until you burn out.
(Kidding. But most of the people I've seen do this have been in the ... 2/3 year range so far. No idea if they're headed for a burnout).
Of that, the writers for the Wandering Inn, Randidly Ghosthound, He Who Fights with Monsters, etc make over 5k a month doing this. I'm sure there are others like Skully who has done well too, though I'm not sure of his $ amount.