I would just like to add my code to this discussion, even though it is old, as it took me a little while to get it working and it may help someone else... largely based on what
sottwell had already written.
[
[pdoResources?
&parents=`0`
&includeTVs=`homepageFeatureCheckbox`
&where=`{"homepageFeatureCheckbox.value":"true"}`
&prepareTVs=`1`
&tpl=`tl.pr.news-feature`
&limit=`4`
&sortby=`{"publishedon":"DESC"}`
&includeContent=`1`
]
My TV is a simple checkbox within a News post, which is set that if it's checked it will return true. This will then pull up to 4 articles which are selected as true, and provide a Featured News section, for, in my case, the homepage.