Is this a good puzzle type?

[rhu]

I had an idea for a word/logic puzzle. I don't trust my judgment as to whether it's reasonable or waaay too hard. If only I had friends who love hard puzzles who could try it out and tell me what they think....

So we're all familiar with word ladders; in particular I'm thinking of the restricted kind where all the words are the same length and the only legal operation is to replace one letter with another; what in the Enigma would be tagged a PROGRESSIVE LETTER CHANGE. A classic example:

   1. L E S S
   2. L O S S
   3. L O S E
   4. L O V E
   5. M O V E
   6. M O R E

So what I'm wondering is: given only the list of letters that change in each step, can you reconstruct the start and end words? (For the above example, you'd be given (4) OEVMR) I think the end would be moderately easy but the start would be somewhat hard.

Here are two samples. Please give them a try if you feel like it and share your thoughts on whether, as a puzzle, it's (a) reasonably solvable, and (b) fun. And if I'm reinventing the wheel, please tell me!

Puzzle 1: (4 letters) FRMAW [one step is a proper noun]
Puzzle 2: (5 letters) LASRPSOBD